Description
I wasn’t an eggplant lover until a friend gave me this recipe which I have tweaked and updated. The few ingredients in the sauce is far tastier than canned sauce and makes the dish. All you need is a side salad and crusty bread to make a meal!
Ingredients
- ½ cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 eggplant – trimmed, peeled, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 ½ (6 ounce) cans water
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 (8 ounce) package fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
- ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease an 8×14-inch baking dish.
- Mix seasoned bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- and red pepper flakes in a shallow bowl. Brush eggplant slices with olive oil and press into bread crumb mixture to coat. Lay slices onto a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven until browned and tender
- about 15 minutes. Remove eggplant and reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Whisk tomato paste and water in a saucepan
- place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Stir in basil
- oregano
- parsley
- garlic
- brown sugar
- salt
- and black pepper.
- Place eggplant slices into the prepared baking dish
- overlapping the slices. Spoon tomato sauce over eggplant and top with mozzarella cheese and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted
- about 15 minutes. If desired
- broil for 1 to 2 more minutes to give cheese topping a golden color. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 1 hr
Servings: 6