Eggplant Parmesan

Oh for the love of summertime vegetables! I was inspired to try this recipe idea when I received some eggplant from my local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. I read through several recipes before deciding what my method and combination of ingredients would be. Normally, dairy isn’t on my menu but this meal was being shared, so I cooked outside my normal dairy free routine for this dinner. And, because I was playing with the recipe, I didn’t measure everything out exactly so keep that in mind and follow the “general idea” for this!

INGREDIENTS -

3 small or 2 medium eggplants
2-3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs, lightly scrambled
3-4 cups marinara sauce
1 1/2 cups regular or gluten free Italian bread crumbs
2 Tbsp avocado oil

A little side note on the marinara sauce - I used the Kirkland brand organic marinara sauce. It is one of the few ready made sauces that does not contain sugar, and it’s really good! If you have an abundance of garden tomatoes and a little more time - homemade marinara sauce is the best!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the eggplant into 1/4” rounds, sprinkle with salt and set aside. This helps remove some of the extra moisture from the eggplant.

Whisk the two eggs into a shallow bowl and set aside. Measure out the bread crumbs into a small plate. Both of these will be used for coating the eggplant so keep that in mind with the size and shape of the dish you place the eggs and bread crumbs in.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish, spread 1 cup of the marinara sauce around on the bottom. Add 1 tablespoon of the avocado oil to a large frying pan and bring heat to medium high. Dip the eggplant slices in the egg mixture and then coat with the bread crumbs. Place the slices into the preheated pan and brown on both sides. Place the slices into the 9 x 13 pan and continue to brown the remainder of the slices, this could take a few rounds of frying depending on the size of your pan. While you are browning the additional slices, start the layering process by spooning a teaspoon or so of marinara on each slice, and then top with a little mozzarella cheese.