Eggplant Parmigiana
"I often find that the star of eggplant parmigiana recipes (the eggplant!) ends up overwhelmed by the marinara or smothered by the cheese, so I experimented a bit and came up with a recipe that has a nice balance between all the flavors."
- Ready In:
- 1hr 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Serves:
-
8
ingredients
- 2 lbs eggplants, sliced 1/2-inch thick
- 2 cups finely ground panko breadcrumbs (or regular breadcrumbs)
- 3⁄4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons Italian spices (a blend of whatever you prefer)
- 2 -3 eggs, beaten (start with 2, add another if needed)
- 2 -3 tablespoons water (add the third T. if you add a third egg)
- olive oil flavored cooking spray (about 1 T. total)
- 4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (2 cups)
- 3 cups marinara sauce
- 1 -2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 ounce shredded parmesan cheese (1/2 cup)
directions
- Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- Slice eggplant, set aside.
- Mix panko, cayenne, and italian seasonings in medium shallow bowl. Beat eggs with water in another shallow bowl.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray lightly with olive oil. Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in breadcrumb mixture. Cook coated slices 2 minutes on a side or till tender, working in batches if needed.
- Layer 1/3 of the eggplant slices in the bottom of prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella. Repeat layers 2 more times. Stir vinegar into marinara and spoon marinara over last layer. Top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and parmesan.
- Cover dish loosely with foil and bake 30 minutes at 375 deg. F. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, till cheese is golden. Let rest 5-10 minutes before serving.
- **if you'd like to make this ahead, assemble up to 2 days in advance. Cover with foil and refrigerate till ready to bake, then cook about 10-15 extra minutes before removing the foil. (Please note, though, the longer you refrigerate it, the less crispy the crumb coating will be).
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Reviews
-
Thanks! Truely enjoy this.......increased the Italian Spices by 2 ........Another "keeper"! DPN -
This dish was amazing!! I never liked nor thought I could make something as hard as eggplant parmigiana, but it came out great!! More time consuming than I expected..but it came out perfect. Everyone loved the dish, I will be making this again. Thanks.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
velorutionista
minneapolis, 63
<p><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/adoptedspring08.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <br /> <br />Hubby and I are currently living in St. Paul, MN in a great little neighborhood with tons of independent businesses. We have restaurants, natural foods coops (yes, plural!!), libraries, neighborhood movie theaters, everything is easy walking or biking distance--we love it! We enjoy biking a lot, too, and the Twin Cities have a fantastic network of bike trails, tons of things to do and see?we?ve found the perfect location! We currently live in an apartment, so our gardening attempts are limited to 3 large pots of herbs (one is all basil, the others are a mix of rosemary, tarragon, thai basil, mint, curry plant, sage, thyme, and oregano). We're saving for a house, so eventually we'll have a yard to plant more veggies in, but for now the herb pots do pretty well! <br /> <br />I enjoy cooking in my spare time (well, and my not-so-spare time, too...my hubby, who also loves to cook, accuses me of planning way-too-elaborate weeknight meals, but he never complains once he starts eating...no matter how late it is!) We are pretty adamant about eating healthy and sustainable foods. I try to make a point to source the majority of my ingredients as locally as possible, and I'm very lucky to have the wonderful St. Paul farmer's market available year round (though in the winter my choices are limited to fresh eggs, organic/free-range meat of all sorts, cheese, honey, baked goods...limited, right?...poor me!...in the summer the market is bursting with all that plus all manner of vegetables, and I've never met a vegetable there I didn't like). I also eat a good deal of wild game meat (elk, deer, antelope) because my family (who still live in MT) ship a box of hunting season bounty to us every winter. What doesn't come from the farmers market or the wild game express comes from my local natural foods co-op (St. Paul's Mississippi Market), which has a plethora of local products to choose from as well! <br /> <br />I try to eat as healthfully as possible, so if I make your recipe, I may alter it to fit my preferred diet (i.e. I'll cut down on fat, add veggies, change cuts of meat, cut down on cheese and certain condiments like mayo, etc.). I will still rate the recipe unless I pretty much don't follow it at all, in which case I'll just leave a comment with what I did--I always like to see what others have done with recipes, but I don't think it's fair to grade the recipe if I didn't actually follow it! I won?t generally make a recipe if it calls for ingredients I don?t like (and can?t sub out for something I do like), so most of my ratings are pretty high for that reason. I?ve never really understood people who try a recipe and then give it a very low rating only because they don?t like the ingredients called for. Anyhow. <br /> <br />My rating system for recipes is pretty simple. I won?t give a star rating to a recipe if I don?t follow it fairly closely. If I do give your recipe a star rating, this is what it means: <br />5 stars = fantastic flavor or unique (and tasty) & the recipe worked as written?would definitely make it again <br />4 stars = good flavor &/or the recipe needed only some minor changes to work?would likely make again <br />3 stars = the recipe needed a fair bit of alteration to be edible?might try it again, but would make some major changes <br />2 stars = good idea in theory, bad recipe in practice?would only try it again (with massive changes) if I?m feeling ambitious/creative <br />1 star = inedible?would not be trying it again</p>
