Baked Eggplant Pomodoro

Like I mentioned yesterday I've been in the mood for healthier foods.  Especially meatless meals centered around vegetables.  (I've been a little anti-meat lately and took the chicken out of my portion of pasta yesterday.)  Yesterday while at the store I picked up 2 eggplants and decided that even if I was the only one who would eat it, we would have it for dinner tonight.

When dinnertime rolled around the last thing I wanted to do was cook.  It's been around 110 degrees today and we were out in it running a few errands.  I gave Liam the choice of going out for dinner and my cooking and he decided for us that we'd stay home.  I have to say I wasn't thrilled with that idea, but I'm so glad that's what we ended up doing.

I didnt fry the eggplant -- it was breaded and baked in the oven (add more heat to the already hot house thank you very much) -- and the Pomodoro sauce was made from fresh onion, garlic and tomatoes.  I even made another version of Rachael Ray's garlic bread to go along with it.  Oh man was it all delicious.  Travis was so funny -- he told me "I don't like eggplant but can see why people would like this".  LOL

With all the fresh vegetables, this is my submission to Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-day for this week.  Go check out her site on Tuesday to see all the other submissions!

Eggplant Pomodoro

• 2 small to medium eggplants, sliced
• 1 whole egg and 1 egg white, beaten with 2 tablespoons water
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• Olive Oil
• Pomodoro Sauce (recipe follows)
• Mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 375.  Spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray. 

Dredge the eggplants in the egg mixture and then the breadcrumbs to coat.  Place onto prepared baking sheet and drizzle a small amount of olive oil over each one (maybe a teaspoon per slice).

Bake for 20-30 minutes turning once.  They will be done when they are nicely browned and crispy on the outside.

Place a spoonful of the Pomodoro sauce on each eggplant slice and then sprinkle each slice with a little Mozzarella cheese.  Place back into the oven for approximately 10 more minutes to melt the cheese.  Stack and serve!

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Pomodoro Sauce
(modified from Allrecipes.com)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 tomatoes, diced
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 8 ounces chicken stock
• 1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Add onion and garlic and saute until it starts to slightly brown.  Add in the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, chicken stock and red pepper flakes and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Right before the sauce is done, stir in the chopped basil to combine.

Comments

[Claire]

THis looks SO stinkin' good! I'm going to try this soon. Maybe next week, got an eggplant sitting in my kitchen right now!

[candy]

oh mama, do i love eggplant! this looks incredibly yummy and simple (which is one of my main requirements!)

[Gail]

This looks really good - I'll have to try it the next time we have eggplant.

[Tiffany]

I am making this right now. Will let you know how it turns out!!

[Alisha]

Tiffany, I can't wait to hear how it comes out for you! :-)