You know those foods that you thought were gross when you were little and now all of a sudden discover that you love them? This is true for the story of me and eggplant. I hated their texture, flavor, chewiness and weird shape. This all changed when I went to an Italian restaurant and mistakenly took a bite of what I thought was chicken Parmesan. I was happily surprised when I found out it was eggplant and so began my mission to make eggplant Parmesan not only from scratch, but healthy.
I think my version of the eggplant Parmesan actually tasted better then the Italian restaurants, but I'm slightly bias.. The eggplant was crispy on the outside and soft inside. It wasn't too chewy and definitely not soggy. Jake still has it in his head that he hates eggplant but he did eat a few pieces :)
The trick to making sure the eggplant doesn't come out soggy is to make sure you "weep it" after you cut it in order to remove some of the moisture. I salted both sides of the eggplant and left them on a paper towel to "weep" for about 20-30 minutes.
Once you see some pools of liquid, wipe off the salt and moisture.
Recipe adapted from Bakin and Eggs:
1 eggplant cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 1/2 cups Italian panko bread crumbs
1 cup flour
1 egg beat plus a splash of water
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs salt
"Weep" the eggplant for 30 minutes then wipe off salt and moisture. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dredge each piece of eggplant in flour, then transfer to egg wash, and finally coat with a mixture of Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Lay on a wire rack that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Brush the tops of eggplants with olive oil and bake for 15 minutes. Flip the eggplants and continue baking for 15 minutes. Top each eggplant with mozzarella cheese and bake until melted (about 3 minutes).
I served mine over spaghetti :)
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