Eggplant Parmesan

Comfort food, YUM! Can’t wait for leftovers, but the exciting thing about this dish – I felt like there were surprisingly few prep dishes to clean up.

Meatless Monday Menu – Eggplant Parmesan
Local Produce – Eggplant, Basil

Eggplant Parmesan
Based on http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2011044

Eggplant:
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 T water
2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
¼ cup parmesan cheese
2 pounds eggplant, peeled and sliced ½ inch thick
Cooking spray

Filing:
½ cup fresh basil, roughly sliced
¼ cup parmesan cheese
½ t crushed red pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ t salt
16 oz. Ricotta cheese (original suggests and I used part-skim)
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Other ingredients:
24 oz Crushed Tomatoes (My favorite – Furmano’s) or premium pasta sauce
2 T olive oil (not needed if using pasta sauce)
Salt and pepper to taste (not needed if using pasta sauce)
8 oz. thinly sliced fresh mozzarella cheese
¾ cup provolone cheese
Additional torn basil leaves
Crushed red pepper, for sprinkling

Eggplant:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In one dish combine eggs and water. In a second dish combine panko and ¼ cup parmesan cheese. Dip eggplant in egg mixture; dredge in panko mixture and place slices on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake for 30 minutes, turning once and rotating baking sheets after 15 minutes.

Filling:
Combine filling ingredients.

Sauce:
If using crushed tomatoes – combine tomatoes olive oil, salt and pepper.

Assembly:
In a 13x9-inch glass baking dish coated with cooking spray, spoon ½ cup pasta sauce and spread around. Layer ½ eggplant slices, sprinkle with salt, and top with another ¾ cup of sauce. Spread ½ of the filling mixture and top with 1/3 of mozzarella and ¼ Provolone. Repeat this layering with the other half of the eggplant. End with 1 cup of sauce and top with 1/3 of mozzarella and ¼ cup of Provolone. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove foil top with remaining 1/3 of mozzarella and ¼ cup of Provolone. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle additional torn basil and crushed red pepper on top.

NOTE: original recipe calls for whole wheat panko. I would love to try this, I just had regular on hand. They found that the regular panko got soggy and that is why they preferred the whole wheat. I did not find this to be true.