We have all had tons of time at home over the last few months. For all of us that means more cooking, which is a great thing. For those of us with two working parents and kids in the house, it does not necessarily mean more time to cook. I came up with this dead simple version of baked eggplant parmesan because I was really craving it, but I wanted a faster way. Roasting the eggplant makes everything much easier than individually frying each piece. It also probably makes it lower in fat, but that was not my main goal in making the recipe.
I chose to throw together a quick and simple tomato sauce for this. If you are really crunched for time, feel free to use a good quality jarred sauce. I like Victoria’s and Rao’s, but use whatever you like. Throwing together a red sauce is dead simple, so give it a try.
Feeds 3-4. This recipe is easily doubled
Time 45 minutes, somewhat unattended
Ingredients
1 large eggplant (1.5 – 2 lbs)
1/2 cup olive oil (for brushing)
Salt
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
1 recipe dead simple tomato sauce
Fresh basil for serving
Method
- Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Slice the eggplant crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange the slices on a large baking sheet.
- Generously paint the eggplant on one side with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt. A pastry brush works well for this. Flip the eggplant slices and paint and salt the opposite side. This is a great step to let a child do. It’s very simple and not too messy.
- Roast the eggplant in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip and roast for 15 minutes longer. The eggplant should be nicely browned. If it is not, leave it in a bit longer. Remove when the eggplant is browned. Leave the oven on.
- While the eggplant is in the oven, make the sauce.
- Now it is time to assemble the dish. Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9 inch square, or oval baking dish.
- Place one layer of eggplant down, trying to cover the entire surface of the dish.
- Cover the eggplant with a layer of tomato sauce, then cover with slices of the mozzarella. Repeat until you run out of eggplant. In the dish I used, this worked out to be two layers of eggplant.
- Bake the dish, uncovered for 15-20 minutes. The cheese should be melted, maybe slightly browned and the sauce should be bubbling.
- Make a chiffonade of the basil and sprinkle it on top of the eggplant. Serve with pasta and the remaining sauce.
