Eggplant Parm

This classic Italian dish is a super flavourful meat free choice for dinner.

Serves 4-6

1 eggplant, sliced
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1  1/2 cups Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
1 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsps parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded cheese (mozza, provolone, cheddar)

Sauce:

1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 - 5.5 oz can tomato paste
2 tsps dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp sugar

To make the sauce:

Heat olive oil in a saucepan and brown the chopped onion. Add garlic and cook 1 minute to soften the garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients. (Don't forget, when you drain the canned tomatoes keep the juice. You can freeze it for when you're making soup.) Simmer the sauce about 5 minutes. It should be quite thick.

Set the sauce aside and start preparing the eggplant.

Take a thin slice out of one side of the skin. That will give you a flat surface to sit your eggplant on for slicing. You should be able to get about 12 slices out of a good sized eggplant.

Place the flour in a bowl.

Mix eggs and milk together in another bowl.

And in another bowl mix bread crumbs, cornmeal, cornstarch and parmesan together.

Your dredging station is ready!

Dredge each slice of eggplant in flour then dip in egg/milk and finally in the breadcrumb mix.

Prepare a broiler pan with cooking spray and place the breaded eggplant side by side. I only have one broiler pan so had to bake two batches.

Bake at 400F for 12 minutes, then slowly and carefully remove from oven. Flip them and return to oven for another 8 minutes.  I say slowly and carefully because on my first batch I reached in and pulled the broiler pan out of the oven and my eggplant slices slid right off the pan and onto the oven floor. Grrrr! (5 second rule, right?)

Once all the eggplant slices are baked oil an 8 X 11" baking dish and spoon in 1/2 cup tomato sauce. Next a layer of eggplant and another 1/2 cup of sauce.

Here you add 1/3 cup of your choice of cheese. I used herb and garlic cheddar. Then eggplant, 1/2 cup sauce and 1/3 cup cheese and the final layer of eggplant. Top with the remaining sauce.

Bake at 375F for 30 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and bake 10 more minutes.

Remove from oven and let rest about 10 minutes before cutting to ensure nice neat servings.