I love trying new recipes and figuring out what to do with ingredients. I've been wanting to check out eggplant parmesan for a while. I vaguely recall making something a couple years ago and I'm pretty sure it included eggplant, but when I went to hunt for the recipe I couldn't find it. So I scoured the web until I found a recipe that was manageable. It's not supposed to be difficult… dredge, coat, bake, cover in cheese and sauce and bake again. Or something close.
This time I found an eggplant recipe at Foodblogga that was more like a casserole instead of serving individual slices of eggplant. I didn't follow the recipe exactly. Actually I didn't really use it much at all. I skimmed the recipe to get the general idea and then I just flew by the seat of my PJs and made up the rest. I followed the general steps, I just didn't pay attention to most of the ingredients. Lucky for me, my family loved it, although it was a bit over baked, so the eggplant wasn't as firm as I would have liked.
I made my own sauce. I didn't have eggs for dredging, but didn't notice until I had already cut the eggplant. So instead I mixed a little olive oil and skim milk, dredged the eggplant and covered in my own breadcrumb mixture. Which, by the way, if you are in a hurry, the best breadcrumb coating is Stove Top Stuffing (chicken and herb flavor)! Pour some into your food processor and voila! Super yummy, already seasoned breadcrumbs for fried whatever you are making.
