Eggplant Parmesan Recipe

Hehe another delicious home cooked meal. There has been a long string of recipes posted lately (so much more freedom to cook now!), but restaurant reviews will be making a comeback.

Inspiration strikes when you least expect it. It was a Friday night and my roommate, a mutual friend, and myself were all gchatting at our respective locations. Hunger had taken ahold of us, but all we could do was talk about how hungry we were.

I had an eggplant in the fridge…and our friend only knew how to make pasta..oh what to do..

That’s where the inspiration part came in. I quickly googled a recipe for eggplant parmesan. Bobby Flay’s name caught my eye, and we derived our recipe from the one posted on the Food Network (aka fewer ingredients).

Ingredients:

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce:

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 roasted red peppers, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

Oregano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Eggplant:

1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch-thick round slices

5 cups Panko bread crumbs

All-purpose flour

Oregano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 large eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons water

Butter

Vegetable oil

1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

1 cup grated parmesan

Roasted red pepper sauce

Instructions:

For the Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce:

1) Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion. Cook until soft. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add the red peppers and cook for 1 minute.

2) Add the crushed tomatoes, bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add the oregano and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes longer.

For the Eggplant:

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 15 by 10 by 2-inch baking dish and set aside.

2) Place the panko bread crumbs into a large shallow bowl. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

3) In another medium shallow bowl, whisk the eggs and 2 tablespoons of water together.

4) Season each eggplant slice on both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge each eggplant slice in the flour, tapping off excess, then dip it in the egg, and finally dredge it in the bread crumb mixture.

5) Shake off any excess breading and transfer the egg plant to a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.

6) Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Working in small batches, fry a few of the eggplant slices, turning once, until golden brown, about 3 minutes per batch.

7) Transfer the eggplant to a paper towel-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.

8) Cover the bottom of the prepared baking dish with some of the tomato sauce and arrange 1/2 of the eggplant over the sauce. Cover the eggplant with some of the sauce and grated mozzarella and parmesan. Repeat to make 2 layers ending with the sauce.

9) Top with more mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and bake until hot and just beginning to brown, about 30 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

In addition to the eggplant parm, our friend ever so kindly boiled some spaghetti for us. =) Though we did have to remind him to actually turn on the stove. Ladle any leftover tomato sauce over the pasta.

A perfect juxtaposition of vegetable, dairy, and carbs. Buon appetito! And thank goodness I’m not lactose intolerant.