Replacing noodles with a vegetable like a healthy-eating star
This week’s recipe falls somewhere between eggplant parmesan and lasagna, and I call that place: delicious!
If you read eggplant and thought, “Ew, eggplant,” I can’t really blame you. I’m not sure why anyone thought to name this vegetable an eggplant, especially when it can be called aubergine instead. “Aubergine”—pretty; possibly an indie band. “Eggplant”—something that probably doesn’t smell great. Despite that, I hope this recipe leaves you thinking, “What’s in a name?”
A lot of foods that you dislike, especially vegetables, may actually be things you just haven’t had the chance to try a good version of yet. I hated eggplant until I tried really good versions of eggplant parm, baingan bharta, and baba ghanoush. So if you think you hate it, maybe give it a couple more chances—you might discover a new favourite.
One of the issues with eggplant is that it has a bitterness in it that needs to be removed through a salting technique. Salting the eggplant is a little time-consuming so people usually skip this step, which leads to eggplant that isn’t very appetizing. I’d recommend keeping this step in and saving this recipe for when you have a solid afternoon free to cook.
Another thing about eggplant is that it’s a total sponge so if you don’t bread it, the amount of oil that will get soaked up while pan-frying is really unhealthy. To avoid that, we will bake our eggplant instead.
Ingredients:
1 large Italian eggplant; sliced
1 can or jar of your favourite tomato sauce
2 to 3 cups of grated mozzarella, marble cheddar, or a similar cheese that melts well
Olive oil for drizzling
Salt for salting eggplant
Optional, if you have time to bread it:
1/4 cup of all-purpose flour; or as required
1/2 cup of milk (eggless version) or 1/4 cup of olive oil (vegan version); or as required
1/2 cup of Italian-style breadcrumbs; or as required
Directions:
Cut your eggplant into one-centimetre thick slices. Thinner slices of eggplant will get crisper while thicker slices will stay softer—it depends on your preference. Just make sure that they’re all similar in thickness so it all cooks at roughly the same time. You can do rounds or lengthwise slices depending on the size of your casserole dish.
Line a large baking sheet with paper towels. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt on the paper towels. Arrange eggplant slices on the paper towels. Sprinkle with a few more pinches of salt. Repeat layers of eggplant and paper towels. Cover with more paper towels and leave a cutting board at the top. At this point, you can set up your breading station or just go watch an episode of something.
Optional, if breading:
Measure out ingredients for your breading workstation.
Place the flour in a wide shallow bowl or a plate with a rim. In a second wide shallow bowl, place the milk or olive oil (if using milk, dip the eggplant in milk; if using oil, brush it with olive oil).
Place the breadcrumbs in a third bowl.
Separate the paper towels from the eggplant, placing all of the eggplant in a large bowl. Rinse the eggplant with water to remove the salt and pat dry with fresh paper towel.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Optional, if breading:
At your breading station, dip all of the eggplant slices in the flour and set aside. Then use tongs to dip slices in milk (or a brush to brush slice with oil). Finally, use the tongs to dip the slices in the breadcrumbs.
Line the large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil.
Place the eggplant on the baking sheet in a single layer and drizzle with a little more olive oil on top.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown, flipping halfway through the cooking time. Keep in mind that cooking times really vary for this depending on your oven, the thickness of your slices, and even on whether you chose to bread your eggplant or not. If eggplant is unbreaded, then it could bake in as quick as 10 to 15 minutes. I recommend checking on your eggplant every 10 minutes and removing any slices that have reached a golden brown.
In a casserole dish, put a few spoons of sauce to cover the dish and then place layers of eggplant, sauce, and cheese.
At this point, if you want to freeze a portion, get some small aluminum trays with lids from the dollar store or grocery store. When you want to bake it, leave it in the fridge overnight and then bake in the oven without a lid until it is heated through to the centre of the dish and the cheese is bubbling.
If you want to eat it right away, place your eggplant lasagna in the oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.
Let the eggplant cool for five minutes before cutting into it. Enjoy with salad and garlic bread or on its own. Leftovers can be heated in the microwave and eaten as is or put in a nice bun.
Enjoy!