Tonight was the night that I got over my defeat and pushed forward. What better way than eggplant Parmesan. I have the new edition of Better Homes & Garden New Cookbook to review, so I decided to use some of their recipes. The eggplant Parmesan recipe used flour as the breading. I wanted to use Panko breadcrumbs. The chef uses Italian breadcrumbs, and my mom just sautes hers in olive oil. So what to do? All of it.
The recipe (altered by me)
2 eggplants (small)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan/Romano mix cheese
2 cups meatless spaghetti sauce (sigh…..yes I used bottled sauce)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
vegetable oil
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| the middle one is fine, the rest have burnt oil pieces on them |
Peel eggplant and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Combine egg and water in one pan. Combine flour, and breadcrumbs in another pan. Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil on medium-high heat.
Dredge eggplant in egg, then in flour mixture, then place in hot oil. 3 minutes on each side. Repeat with remaining eggplant. BE sure to replace the oil and keep the pan from drying out. Eggplant will suck the oil up quickly. If you don’t you will end up with this.
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange eggplant in baking dish. Top with Parmesan/Romano cheese. Pour 1 cup of spaghetti sauce over. Top with half of mozzarella. Layer second layer of eggplant, Parmesan/Romano, sauce, and mozzarella. Bake for 13-14 minutes.
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| SUCCESS! |
~For Dessert ~ Blondie Buried-Cherry Cookies
(again from BH&G 15th Edition New Cookbook)
These little guys were fun. The kids helped.
1 jar maraschino cherries
1/2 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract (altered since the original amount was too much)
2 cups all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain cherries, reserving juice. In a large bowl, beat eggs 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in egg and extract. Then mix in flour.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Press your thumb into the center of each and top with a cherry.
Frosting- 1 cup semisweet chocolate, 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk. Heat in saucepan on low heat until melted. Stir in cherry juice to thin (if needed)
Top each cookie with frosting. Bake 10 minutes. Cool for 1-2 minutes.
I was really hoping the cookies would stay this shape. They looked really nice. But unfortunately, they spread. No clue why I expected them to stay round. Either way, they were extremely tasty. If I would have known the end result, I would’ve drizzled the chocolate rather than blobbing in on top.
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| Nom Nom Nom! |
Eggplant
Looks delish, my eggplant parm that I made from the farmers market veg didn't turn out great, but yours looks good.
Both breadcrumbs must have made it that much more flavorful. I love how the maraschinos melted like that.
For a long time I had a natural abhorrance to eggplant. It was something about the texture. But I've slowly grown open minded and love eggplant parmesan. I have yet to try and make it myself, but your recipe looks delicious!
Oooh I love blondies, but I really love the fact there's a cherry buried in that one
Also, eggplant parm is one of my very favorite foods!
Sues
Eggplant parmesean has never appealed to me in the past. However, after seeing your recipe and end result image, I am seriously gonna reconsider that!! Looks Amazing..Thank you!!