I'd rarely ever cooked with eggplant before and it's as if I'd suddenly discovered the vegetable! I've made two dishes with eggplant in two weeks--eggplant rollatini and now eggplant Parmesan. Maybe I've been channeling Lucille Mazzarella from my Lucille Series who cooks all things Italian.
This was equally delicious. It's not hard although it is a bit time consuming. Perfect for a special weekend dinner. This recipe is from Skinnytaste.com with some of my own additions and comments.
Ingredients
2 pounds eggplant, 1 large or 2 medium
olive oil spray
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 ounces part-skim ricotta
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Pecorino Romano (I used Parmesan since that is what I had)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (I consider this optional)
1 large egg
2-1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella
4 cups homemade tomato sauce or jarred marinara
olive oil spray
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 ounces part-skim ricotta
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Pecorino Romano (I used Parmesan since that is what I had)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (I consider this optional)
1 large egg
2-1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella
4 cups homemade tomato sauce or jarred marinara
Instructions
Preheat oven to
450°F. Spray 2 sheet pans with oil. Be sure to grease them well or eggplant
will stick.
Slice the eggplant
into 1/4 inch thick slices.
My new handy dandy mandoline |
Sprinkle eggplant
with salt and place in colander in sink.
Let sit for 10 minutes or so until eggplant begins to “sweat.” Dry eggplant well on paper towels.
Place eggplant on
sheet pans. Bake for 20 minutes, turning
halfway. Eggplant should be golden. *Mine took less time so check early
Combine ricotta, egg,
parsley and 1/4 cup of grated cheese.
Put 1/2 cup sauce on
the bottom of a 9x12 baking dish.
Add 1/3 of eggplant
to cover the bottom of the dish. Top with 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture,
3/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese and 3/4 cup of the sauce.
Add another layer of
eggplant and repeat the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and sauce two more
times, reserving the third layer of mozzarella for topping.
Top
with 1 1/2 cups of sauce, remaining mozzarella, and the remaining 2 tablespoons
of grated cheese.
Reduce oven to 400F.
Cover with foil and
bake until cheese is melted and everything is bubbling, about 40 minutes. (I
find spraying the piece of foil with some cooking spray helps to keep it from
sticking.
Remove foil and bake
an additional 10 minutes.
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Includes tasty recipes!
Good, soothing comfort food!
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