Stuffed Eggplant Parm
This stuffed eggplant parm is a great alternative to the typical breaded and fried eggplant parm, thats usually served on top of a bed of carb loaded pasta!
Eggplant parmesan is one of my favorite Italian dishes. The only bad part is that its usually fried with breadcrumbs and served with pasta, and I don’t need all of those carbs. This stuffed eggplant parm is the perfect alternative!
There is no pasta involved, or deep frying! And you still get all of the amazing flavors that eggplant parmesan has to offer!
You’re gonna start by taking two medium sized eggplants, and halving them the long way.
Then you want to take a pairing knife, and slice in the flesh around the eggplant, leaving a border and making sure not to slice right through the eggplant skin.
After that, you want to take a spoon and scoop out the eggplant flesh, and make sure to scoop out enough so the eggplant has a deep cavity to add the filling.
Make sure to set aside the eggplant flesh you scoop out. You are going to use that for the stuffing!
You want to chop up the eggplant flesh and have it ready in a bowl.
Making the stuffing is quit simple and easy. All you need to do is sauté a diced onion, minced garlic, the eggplant flesh, seasoned with some salt and pepper.
You want to cook all of that until everything is nice and tender.
This is where the delicious aromas commence…
There you have it, the stuffing!
Enjoy!!
Make sure to check out my recipe for spinach stuffed portobello mushroom caps! https://thehungrylyoness.com/recipe/spinach-stuffed-portobello-mushroom-caps/
Stuffed Eggplant Parm
Ingredients
- 2 Medium Eggplant
- olive oil
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- 1/4 Cup Plain Panko Breadcrumbs
- 1 Medium Yellow Onion, finely chopped
- 3 Cloves Garlic (minced)
- 2 Cups Marinara OR Sauce of choice
- 1/4 Cups Fresh Basil, chopped
- 1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º.
- In a small bowl, mix together your breadcrumbs, olive oil and a dash of salt. Set aside.
- Wash your eggplant and slice in half, length wise. Taking a pairing knife, carefully cut along edge of eggplant, leaving a border. Be careful not to slice completely through skin.
- Scoop out flesh of eggplants and place flesh aside.
- Chop up eggplant flesh and set aside.
- In a casserole dish that will fit all four pieces of eggplant, pour 1 cup of your sauce. Spread sauce around bottom of dish evenly.
- Place your eggplant cut side facing up in casserole dish on top of sauce.
- Brush some olive oil inside of eggplants. Season with some salt and pepper.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, sauté your onion with 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add your minced garlic, eggplant flesh, salt and pepper. Cook until eggplant is tender. About 9 minutes.
- Add the rest of your sauce in the pan, along with 1/4 cup of your parmesan cheese. (save the rest of your parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top), and basil. Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Take eggplant out of oven, and stuff each eggplant evenly with stuffing you just made. Sprinkle with Panko breadcrumb mixture and the rest of your parmesan cheese.
- Turn oven broiler on high heat and add your stuffed eggplant back in oven. Cook for about 2-4 minutes, or until breadcrumbs start to darken.
- Let cool a bit before serving.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
