Baked Eggplant With Pesto, Parmesan, and Mozzarella

This tasty eggplant dish is the perfect side to a roasted chicken and a green salad with a lemon vinaigrette. You can either pre-grill the slices or broil them before putting the dish in the oven but either way, make sure the slices are partially cooked before baking. You may want to have a little extra wine/chicken broth mixture handy if the sauce gets too dry.

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 2  medium eggplants, sliced
• 3  tablespoons olive oil
• 1  large onion, chopped
• 2 -3  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  red bell pepper, chopped
• 1⁄2 cup pesto sauce, preferably homemade
• 3  tablespoons tomato paste
• 1⁄4 cup white wine
• 1⁄2 cup chicken broth
• 1⁄2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Salt the eggplant slices and lay on a paper towel for 20 minutes to extract any bitter flavors.
3. Pat the slices dry.
4. Grill the slices (I use a dry grill pan on the stove top but you could also broil) until soft but not all the way done.
5. Heat a skillet and add 2 TBS olive oil, Saute onion, garlic, and bellpepper until soft.
6. Salt and pepper liberally.
7. Stir in the wine and chicken broth and reduce to about 1/2 Cup.
8. Stir in pesto and tomato paste and remove from the heat.
9. In a casserole dish sprinkle the remaining 1 TBS olive oil and lay one layer of eggplant slices on top.
10. Spread 1/3 of the sauce on the eggplant and top with 1/3 of the cheese mixture. Repeat layers.
11. Top with the remaining cheese.
12. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until cheese is browning and bubbly and eggplant slices are soft.