I have a blog entitled Green Smoothies & Juice but it’s a bit misleading. From over there it looks like I’m 100% vegan and I do try to eat a vegan diet as often as possible.
However, I’ve been obsessed with this recipe for eggplant parmesan for the last couple of months. I highly recommend it! It’s a lacto ovo vegetarian recipe. It’s baked, not fried, and the eggplant comes out crispy. Even my husband who doesn’t like eggplant likes it! It’s very convenient in the fridge for up to 3 days and also freezes well.
Ingredients
- 1 big eggplant or 2 normal sized eggplants, peeled and cut into a little less 1/3-inch slices length-wise of the eggplant (the long way)
- 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs (or almond flour to make it paleo)
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 2 eggs beaten (I’m sure eggwhites would work for mom)
- Salt for sweating the eggplant
- Tomato sauce of choice for serving (not baking)
- Mozzarella for melting (optional)
Directions
- Place eggplant slices in a colander and sprinkle both sides of each slice with salt. Allow to sit for at least 3 hours so that the extra moisture comes out of it. Wipe excess moisture from eggplant slices with paper towels.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Use non-stick silpat mats, otherwise grease a baking sheet.
- Set up a breading station by mixing the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese together in one dish.
- In another dish, have the beaten egg ready.
- Coat each slice of eggplant with the egg first, then with bread crumb mixture.
- Arrange the coated eggplant slices in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven on each side until lightly browned and crisp. This will be between 11 and 15 minutes on each side depending on your oven.
- Serve on top of tomato sauce but only just before you’re going to eat it. That way it doesn’t get soggy the way it would if you poured the tomato sauce over it.
- You can also melt mozzarella over it and serve on top of tomato sauce which is especially delicious, alone or with pasta.
**The eggplant cutlets keep in the fridge really well for 3 days. They also freeze really well and you can just heat up a couple of slices at a time, preferably in an oven, not microwave, so that it’s crispy.
**If you have leftover parmesan and breadcrumbs, you can mix it in with eggs and make a crispy omelette kind of thing that’s really tasty to use up leftover ingredients.