Eggplant Parmesan for one

Eggplant Parmesan with a side of quinoa.

For the record, I love Eggplant Parmesan. I usually stay away from it in restaurants because it is usually heavy on the fat content.

Now, I am not saying this is a low fat recipe but it is lower in fat than most. I found this great recipe here. I did a bit of tweaking and it turned out amazing!

I sliced up one small Italian eggplant, dipped the slices in whipped egg whites and then coated them with bread crumbs. 

I also made a simple tomato sauce using canned tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic and onion powder.

When the eggplant came out of the oven I started with the assembly:

A little bit of sauce.

The first layer of eggplant.

Some more sauce.

A layer of mini-mozzarella balls, sliced.

The last of the eggplant slices.

And this last step is the reason why I love my micro plane grater - I get to eat what looks likes 3 cups of shredded Parmesan but is really only about 3 Tbsp.

The dish was complete after a sprinkle of dried parsley and some black pepper.

What I liked most about this recipe is that it was heavy on eggplant and sauce and fairly light on fat and cheese. 

And while my last eggplant dish turned out to be a watery mess (yup, I didn't bother to tell you about that one) - the eggplant in this dish was perfect - it had a nice meaty texture while still being tender.

And since this dish contained 1 eggplant and was made in a 6" round Pyrex dish - you could eat the whole thing without too much guilt.

And, yes, I did eat the whole thing:-)

Oh, and my first attempt at mantu will be up later today...


Eggplant Parmesan for one

Serves 1-2 (depending on serving size)

Ingredients:

1 Italian eggplant, peeled and sliced about 1/4" thick
2 egg whites, whipped
1/2 cup of bread crumbs seasoned with black pepper
2 tsp of olive oil
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
4 mini-mozzarella balls, sliced
1/2 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of dried basil
1/2 tsp of oregano
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
1/4 tsp of onion powder
3 Tbsp of finely shredded Parmesan
2 pinches of salt
1 cup of chicken broth

Instructions: 

Put the tomatoes, chicken broth, basil, oregano, onion, garlic and sugar into a sauce pan and let that simmer while you continue with the eggplant.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Peel the eggplant and slice into 1/4" rounds. Line a sheet pan with tinfoil and brush with the olive oil. Dredge each slice in the egg whites and then into the bread crumbs (be careful to shake off any excess bread crumbs).

Cook the eggplant for 10 minutes then carefully turn them over and cook for another 8-10 minutes.

When the eggplant is golden brown on each side - remove it from the oven and set aside to cool.

At this point the tomato sauce should have reduced a bit. Remove the sauce from the heat and using an immersion blender or regular blender - puree the sauce. Make sure to allow the sauce to cool a bit before blending and be very careful about any splatter.

Ladle some sauce into the bottom of a 6" Pyrex bowl.  The layering should be done in the following order: sauce, eggplant slices, sauce, mozzarella, sauce, eggplant slices, Parmesan cheese.

You can alter the order of the layers to include more mozzarella cheese if you prefer.

Place the dish into a 400 degree oven and cook for 15 - 20 minutes. The cooking time will vary depending on the size of the eggplant slices. Mine were pretty small so I ended up cooking the dish for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Some like it hot

A mostly egg-white omelet with basil, tomato, mozzarella and a sprinkle of Frank's Red Hot sauce.

 

 

I woke up just as the sun was rising and headed out for a nice and slow 2 miles before the day started to heat up.

When I got back I was craving omelets and apples. 

Oh, yeah, and hot sauce.

So, I grabbed what I had in the fridge:

Eggs, basil, diced tomatoes, Frank's Hot Sauce, olive oil, black pepper, parsley and mozzarella.

I did take pictures of the cooking process but for some reason all of the photos I take in my kitchen end up turning out really yellow.

Maybe it is the lack of natural light??

Someday I will figure out the rest of the nifty features in  Lightroom so that I can tone down or remove color saturation.

I only used one whole egg the rest was egg whites. So, it was a fairly trim omelet even though I added in some cheese.

And since you are probably wondering - Yes, Frank's Hot Sauce does taste pretty yummy on granny smith apples:-)

I am going to try my hand at making eggplant Parmesan later today.

Happy Tuesday all!

Just keep trying

In my never ending quest to use up the ingredients in my fridge I made an odd breakfast.

I took the rest of the peas set them to simmer on the stove on low heat. 

I pureed them with the immersion blender and added in some chunks of mozzarella to make it creamy.


After the mozzarella melted I spooned the peas on a piece of toast.

Peas topped with basil pesto and a sprinkle of Parmesan.

With some strong coffee.

Unfortunately, even though the combination sounded like a good idea - the toast ended up being very soggy and the flavors just didn't blend well together. I just couldn't eat it.

Breakfast take 2:

Toast with mozzarella melted on top.

With basil pesto on top.

This version was much better. It just shows to go 'ya - it always pays to keep trying.

It is still raining buckets here today - the dogs ran out about 3 feet from the doorway - did their business and ran right back in this morning.

I am going to spend doing things that involve spending as little time out in the rain as possible.

Ooey, gooey goodness

With all the news about the continuing surges of waves at Santa Cruz harbor - I knew I wanted something comforting for lunch.

I decided to use up the rest of the plum tomatoes and the one yellow tomato that was left.

I sauteed one shallot and two cloves of garlic in a little bit of olive oil. I then added two pinches of basil, oregano and the chopped up tomatoes.

While that simmered, I cooked up some pasta.

The gooey part?

I added chunks of mozzarella to the sauce.

When the mozzarella had melted into the sauce it was time to eat!

I did go on a long walk with the dogs. About 3 miles by mapmyrun.com.

 
And I do have a shot of my kitchen which is slowly - very, very slowly - getting more organized.