Eggplant Parm

Yesterday I mentioned that I prepared the eggplant portion of eggplant parmesan. I've made this dish now three times in the past month and a half after literally never making anything involving eggplant before in my life.

Why?

Well because we've gotten eggplants in our CSA share, of course!

With our first eggplant I was a bit stymied about what to do with the eggplant. I knew I'd had eggplant parm at restaurants before and liked it so started looking for a recipe. The problem was that every recipe I found was either:
1) very complicated
2) involved deep-frying the eggplant, or
3) both.

So, I looked at several recipes and modified them to fit three criteria:
1) easy
2) no frying, and
3) involved only ingredients I had on hand.

Here's what I've come up with. Abel and I both love the eggplant portion and Lucas will always eat spaghetti so it is a great recipe for our family.

Smiling Mama's Eggplant Parm

Peel your eggplant and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. Dredge in egg then in panko breadcrumbs (for whatever reason I had these on hand and not regular breadcrumbs the first time I made it, but I love the extra-crunchiness of the panko so keep using those). Lightly spray baking sheet/dish with olive oil (Pam, whatever you use) and place eggplant slices in single layer in dish. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Flip slices, sprinkle with salt again and drizzle with more olive oil, bake and additional 20 minutes.

In last 20 minutes, make spaghetti according to directions, heat sauce (you know, make spaghetti!). During last few minutes of the eggplant baking, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.

Hopefully your spaghetti and sauce and eggplant will be ready at approximately the same time. Add salad and crusty bread for a complete meal.

Yum!