If you loved the Chicken Parmesan recipe I posted last year you are going to love this lighter, vegetarian option. And this time I made my own sauce! It was my day off yesterday, which is when I made this delicious meal, I was able to take my time and give this dish all the attention it needs. Since I made my own sauce, I would say this meal is high on the prep time, about 45 minutes, cook time is about 30 minutes after that. But bear with me, in the end you will have a delicious meal to enjoy. Plus, if you really want to shave some minutes off the prep time and speed things up, use your favorite canned sauce instead, so simple!
Serves 6
First finely dice half of a large onion.
Then finely dice one jalapeño pepper. I like my sauce to have a little spice to it.
Slice about one cup of baby bella mushrooms.
Set all three ingredients aside.
Next, grab a handful of fresh basil.
Basil smells so good and fresh, yum!
And finely slice it.
Grab two fresh Roma tomatoes.
I love the detail of this photo and how you can see the little water beads, I can't believe I was able to get my little point and shoot camera to focus so well.
And again, coarsely dice those up.
Finely mince about 4-5 cloves of garlic.
In a saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil on medium/high heat.
Add in 1/2 a teaspoon of freshly cracked pepper and 1/2 a teaspoon of dried oregano.
If you have fresh oregano, use fresh oregano, fresh is ALWAYS better!
When the oil has warmed up the spices a bit, add in the onions, jalapeño and basil.
Stir together and let ingredients infuse each other, cook the onions until they have softened.
Add in the garlic....
And a handful of finely sliced Italian Flat leaf parsley...
AND the mushrooms.
Stir the ingredients well and let them cook for a couple minutes.
Add in the Roma tomatoes, stir and cook on medium heat.
Meanwhile you will need to cut open a 14 ounce can of Italian Style Stewed Tomatoes, a 10 ounce can of tomato sauce and a 6 ounce can of tomato paste.
Using a tablespoon add in the entire can of the tomato paste.
This will thicken your sauce and an entire can is what gave me the right consistency.
Add in the stewed tomatoes.
I poured the stewed tomatoes into a mixing bowl and broke up the large pieces first, totally up to you on whether or not you do that.
Next, pour in the tomato sauce and give your sauce a good stir. Add in 2 1/2 cups of water.
Make sure the tomato paste has broken up and dissolved into the rest of the sauce. NOTE: If you like a thinner sauce add more water, if you like your sauce thicker add less water or add more tomato paste if you do not wish to decrease the amount of sauce made.
Add salt to taste and turn heat to high and bring to boil.
If you like you can add 1/2 a teaspoon of red pepper flakes for a spicier sauce.
Once it comes to a boil, cover and reduce heat to medium/low.
How beautiful does that sauce look?
While your sauce is cooking, prepare your eggplant.
Start by prepping your breading station, add 1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs to a shallow dish.
If you don't have Italian Bread Crumbs, season your plain crumbs with a little sprinkling of salt, freshly ground black pepper, finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley and 1/2 a teaspoon of dried oregano.
Next you need a binding agent, because I wanted to keep this recipe totally vegetarian, I used 1 stick of melted butter. If the recipe being totally vegetarian isn't high on your totem pole, you can use 2 -3 whisked eggs. NOTE: You will have butter left over, save this for the bread later.
Slice your eggplant into 1/4 inch rounds. Take one round and coat in the butter.
Then dip it in the bread mixture to coat.
Flip it and dip it on the opposite side. It looks yummy already!
Meanwhile, add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil to a nonstick pan and heat on medium/high heat.
When the oil is hot add the eggplant pieces in and brown.
Repeat breading process with eggplant pieces, you may have to brown your eggplant in batches.
Here is a close up of what your browned eggplant should look like. Perfect. Golden.
Set your browned eggplant pieces aside on a dish lined with a towel or paper to drain any excess oil.
Meanwhile give your (steamy) sauce a good stir and taste.
Remove from heat.
Pour sauce into a rectangle baking dish.
Arrange the eggplant pieces on top, you may have to double up on some pieces if you run out of room.
You will need 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Sprinkle the cheese on top of the eggplant pieces generously.
Place the dish in the oven at 350 degrees on the lowest rack in the oven for approximately 30 minutes until the cheese has melted and browned a little. Be careful not to overcook the cheese, it'll turn into cardboard. You just want to cook the eggplant.
Meanwhile cook whatever pasta you want per the package instructions, I used spaghetti.
Meanwhile, if you have a loaf of French bread, fresh from the market, make a few 1/2 inch thick bias cuts. I cut about 6 pieces including the end, Jim likes the ends.
Lay the bread flat on a cookie dish.
Pull out the remaining butter you had set aside from the eggplant dipping and add in a couple teaspoons of finely diced flat leaf parsley.
Peel three cloves of garlic.
Using a hand grater, grate the garlic into the butter mixture and mix together.
Using a brush, apply the butter mixture to both sides of the bread slices.
YUM!
Bake on the top shelf of the oven until the bread has toasted and the centers are a little stiff. The edges of the bread should be toasty golden brown.
Double YUM!!
By now, your eggplant should be done. Pull eggplant out of oven and let cool for five minutes. Serve with garlic toast and spaghetti! Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan if desired.
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