Healthy Eggplant Parmigiano

Do you love eggplant but hate that it is usually served smothered in sauce and cheese?  If you prefer it to be more healthy as well as delicious, here’s an easy recipe that I came up with years ago.

Note that my recipe doesn’t have specific measurements, rather suggestions.

Ingredients:

• A few eggplants*…I prefer smaller ones  
• Grape tomatoes for roasting (or your favorite tomato sauce)
• One head garlic
• Fresh basil
• Mozzarella
• Crusty Bread

*I used two eggplants, about eight inches long.

Steps To Cook:

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Rinse tomatoes and place in an oven-proof baking dish. Drizzle small amount of olive oil and mix.
3. Cut off pointed top of garlic head to expose cloves. Drizzle small amount of olive oil on garlic head and turn face down in same baking dish. Roast until tomatoes start to brown, shaking pan occasionally.

1. Wash and dry the eggplant, then cut into quarter-inch rounds, discarding both ends.
2. Place rounds on a sprayed or lightly greased baking pan…(I use olive oil), then also lightly spray top side of rounds. (No salting, soaking or standing required!)
3. Roast eggplant about 20-30 minutes, until top side begins to brown. Turn over and roast about 10 more minutes, being careful not to burn eggplant. Eggplant can join tomatoes in oven…just watch each separately and remove each when cooked.

Steps to Assemble:

1. When cool to touch, squeeze the garlic from its head and add cloves to tomatoes. With a fork, mash the garlic into the softened tomatoes to form a chunky tomato sauce.
2. Cover the darkest side of each eggplant round with tomatoes, then top with cheese. Return to oven until cheese begins to bubble.

To Serve:

Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve with your choice of salad. Last night, mine was arugula and shaved fennel with oil/ red wine vinegar dressing. Len also made some delicious focaccia. As a bonus, I had some brussels sprouts and zucchini in the fridge, so I cut them up, added a dash of olive oil, and roasted them also. They served as a wonderful antipasto. Pair with your favorite vino – and voila, a great colorful dinner for a cold, snowy night, but also delicious any time of year. And the leftovers are so good, even cold.

Buon appetito!

Judy

Tags: eggplant, Healthy Eggplant, healthy eggplant parmigiano; colorful cooking; roasted garlic and tomatoes, Homemade Italian Food, Italian cuisine