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Eggplant Parmesan - Baked With A Plethora
You're Welcome!
Actually, you can thank my child for this recipe. My daughter had some eggplant from us, and some tomatoes and winged the recipe. She was successful and then, of course, I had to try it.
My husband took a bite, and after he blew on the glob of food on his spoon, he gently popped the morsels in his mouth. He started to smile. "That's tasty!" was his comment.
Precooking Eggplant and Sausage
It is important to cook the eggplant before you start, plus it is important to fry the sausage before you start as well.
Right. It's not about eggplant or sausage. Nope. It's about confusing your senses to believe that you are eating lasagna. The eggplant is like the noodles and the sausage is flavored with its flavoring, like usual and the dish is just yummy.
That's all I got to say about that!
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant, peeled and sliced, breaded and fried
- 1 package crackers, chopped fine
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 pound italian pork sausage, browned
- 1 can mushrooms
- 2 green pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 1 jar marinara sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 10 roma tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cups Asiago and Parmesan cheese, shreds
- 1 sprig cilantro leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Two frying pans. One metal baking dish. Oven 350.
- Fry sausage, onion, mushrooms and pepper until browned. Add jar of marinara. Set aside.
- Cut eggplant, dip in egg wash and cracker crumbs and lightly fry in a cooking spray coated pan until eggs are lightly browned.
- Put a few shakes of olive oil in the bottom of your baking dish. Layer eggplant and marinara mixture in dish with sprinklings of cheese and cut tomatoes. Sprinkle garlic powder on the first layer.
- Cover with cheese and cut tomatoes and bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Heat to 165 degrees.
Cook Time
Simultaneously
This part compares to the guy who used to entertain us by swinging his ankle with a ring on it, stick in mouth spinning a plate, yo-yo in one hand, and patting his tummy with the other hand, while jumping up and down.
Yes. Cooking this dish is kind of like that guy. Well. Maybe not that bad.
The green pepper was added after and it was crunchy. It would have been better to fry it with the sausage. As it as, the onion, mushrooms and sausage were cooked together. The pepper was added when I stirred in the jar of marinara.
The eggplant was peeled, sliced, dipped in egg and coated with finely chopped saltine crackers. The pan was on medium heat and a light coating of cooking spray was added before adding each batch of egglant. The eggplant was fried until it was golden brown.
Then, olive oil was put in the bottom of the pan, eggplant pieces were placed in a layer, then half the meat mixture was spread over the eggplant, a light dusting of garlic powder, some cheese and a couple handfuls of roma tomato chunks. Then, the second layer of eggplant, sauce and some more cheese and more tomatoes on top. I almost forgot the cilantro leaves. I plucked some leaves from the plant I purchased and sprinkled them across the top.
Then, baked at 350. I covered my pan at first, and at 30 minutes, I uncovered the pan. It was about 135 degrees, so I baked it until the temperature was at least 165.
Add Ins
The cheese is of your choosing. We used marinara sauce. We like mushrooms, so we added mushrooms.
Olive Oil
My daughter used olive oil in the bottom of her pan. Olive oil really doesn't matter. It could be any oil. Or, butter?
Prepare the Eggplant
You'll need to fry the eggplant.
Dip in egg, coat in crumbs, fry on medium until the egg is lightly browned.
Layer in Pan
Again, it's like making lasagna, only instead of noodles, the eggplant is the noodle.
Olive oil.
Eggplant.
Sauce.
Garlic powder.
Cheese.
Tomatoes.
Repeat.
