Baked Eggplant With Mushroom-Tomato Sauce

Submitted by annh53182

"Not normally an eggplant fan, but this is really good. From Cheap, healthy, good blog."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 25mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 3-4

ingredients

• 1 eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1 1/4 pounds)
• cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup green pepper, chopped
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
• 1 (8 ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce, divided
• 2⁄3 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided (shredded)
• 1⁄4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)

directions

1. Salt eggplant slices and place in colander on top of a plate. After 30 minutes, rinse eggplant thoroughly and pat down with paper towels.
2. Preheat broiler.
3. Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; broil 3-4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned.
4. Preheat oven to 375°.
5. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add onion and next 6 ingredients (onion through mushrooms). Cover and cook 7 minutes or until tender, stirring mixture occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high; uncover and cook for 2-4 minutes or until liquid evaporates.
6. Spread half of mushroom mixture in bottom of a 1 1/2-quart round baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange half of eggplant slices over mushroom mixture; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Top with 1/2 cup tomato sauce and 1/3 cup mozzarella. Spread remaining mushroom mixture over mozzarella; top with remaining eggplant slices. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon pepper; top with remaining tomato sauce. Cover and bake at 375° for 1 hour. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Let stand 10 minutes.

Reviews

[adventurousbeginner]

Excellent dish! I did make a few minor adjustments, though. . . I did not peel the eggplant (I prefer the texture with the peel). I also don't like green peppers, so I left those out. Since I didn't have any Italian seasoning, I just added some basil, oregano and thyme. Lastly, I used an Italian blend of cheese (cheaper that way than buying mozzarella and parmesan separately!). The pepper flakes add a great kick to the dish. I served this with angel hair pasta and texas toast. Thanks so much for sharing!