The Eggplants Who Didn’t Get Away

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The story behind the recipe
We had way too many sliced eggplants last weekend. We grilled some of them, but realized that there’s only so much of grilled eggplants we can eat in one meal. Aha! This was the perfect time to try out a recipe I saw in a food magazine. It’s always been a favorite of mine and my sister’s, so I was so excited to try it out.

Skillet Eggplant Parmigiana

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant (1 lb.)
1/4 c. seasoned fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 T. water
2 T. olive oil
1 1/4 c. meatless spaghetti sauce
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
1/4 c. snipped fresh basil
2T finely chopped walnuts

The correct recipe:
1. Peel eggplant if desired. Cut eggplant into 3/4″ thick slices. Combine bread crumbs and 1/4 c of the Parmesan cheese in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, combine egg and water. Dip eggplant slices into the egg mixture and then into the crumb mixture to coat.
2. Cook eggplant in hot oil in a 12″ skillet over medium heat for 6-8 minutes or till golden, turning once. Add spaghetti sauce; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese. Reduce heat to medium low. Cook covered for 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle basil and walnuts over eggplant just before serving.

What I did:
Since this was a spur-of-the-moment dish, I didn’t have all the ingredients. I had no basil or walnuts. I used a mix of Magnolia Quickmelt and Cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan and Mozzarella. I forgot to add water to the egg mixture. I put in about 2 cups of spaghetti sauce and drowned the eggplants. And as always, I didn’t measure everything. I just went by heart again.

What did the critics say?
My family loved it! Everyone pointed out that there was too much sauce, but that was alright. We used the leftover saucy eggplant parmigiana for the next meal, and this time we mixed in spaghetti noodles. It was delish! I’m sure this recipe would’ve turned out even more delicious had I used all the ingredients, but hey, they didn’t know what they were missing and they still loved, loved, loved it.

Lesson of the story… you can never have too many eggplants. Haha!

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