All About Eggplant

Despite the hot, summer weather, I still felt like baking eggplant parmigiana last night.  Normally when it's hot and sticky out, I don't want to eat warm foods.  I'd rather have a sandwich or salad, than a casserole.  Not to mention, I don't want to be in my sweaty kitchen.  See, I technically have air condition, but it's not central air;  it's a small window unit that's positioned in the living room, which is nowhere near the kitchen.  Even when I have it on the coldest possible setting, it still doesn't make its way down my long, narrow hallway to cool off the kitchen.  So it's kind of unbearable to be there when it's pushing 90 degrees outside.

Nonetheless, I was set on making eggplant parm.  There are two ways you can do it: buy an actual eggplant and slice it up, or buy pre-cut, pre-breaded eggplant.  Normally, I avoid option two because it has bad ingredients and it's usually coated with egg.  But, when I found Dominex all-natural, vegan eggplant cutlets in the natural foods section of the grocery store, I didn't think twice.  It was reasonably priced, low calorie, and seemed like it had enough for a few single servings, or a very hearty meal for two people (with leftovers).

The recipe on the back says to spread a layer of tomato sauce in a pan, position the eggplant on top and cover with more sauce and cheese, then bake for 35 minutes on  425 degrees.  I thought that might make it all soggy, though.  Instead, I separately baked the eggplant in a pan coated with olive oil for about 10-15 minutes on each side.  On the stove, I heated up Newman's Own Roasted Peppers & Garlic pasta sauce, and then boiled some linguine.  After draining and cooling the pasta, I put some of that on the plate and covered it with a light layer of sauce.   Then I put the eggplant on top, put more sauce on that, and then sprinkled shredded mozzarella as the finishing touch.  It turned out a lot better than the last time I attempted to make eggplant parm from scratch.  (I later found out that because it's a very watery plant, you need to let it drain on a paper towel for about an hour before you start cooking.)