Autumn: when I get it together, usually

You've all been pretty patient with me this past month as I've veered way off topic - nothing food or plant related in the nomadic life! Today, though, a recipe.

We are currently living in my parents' home. Our movers haven't arrived and won't till next week, so while we have keys then new home stands empty for now. Such is life. I have run out of patience with take out, restaurants, other people cooking for me. Last night, I made dinner. My mother happened upon a lot of eggplant at the farm stand last week, so I asked her to leave one and last night I made the eggplant parmesan I have mentioned in a couple early posts but never actually shared. This is a fairly simple recipe and not wildly unhealthy, and fast enough that it could be a weeknight meal (plus you probably have most of the ingredients on hand, save the eggplant). As we get back into the fall, with the busier schedules and cooler weather, it seems like as good a time as any!

Easy Baked Eggplant Parmesan
(adapted from Whole Foods)

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick pieces (about eight) [I do the more traditional crosswise slicing - makes it tidier]
2 eggs, beaten with a fork
1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (sundried tomato or plain) [I suppose you could use regular bread crumbs, but the panko gives it that nice crunch that you would normally get from frying the slices]
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 (25-ounce) jar pasta sauce (roasted vegetable or any variety) [I make my own tomato sauce, and know many people who do, but jarred is actually good for this recipe. I don't use sugar when I make my sauce and the extra sweetness that the jarred stuff has actually balances the salt of the cheese nicely.]
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat oven with a baking sheet inside to 375°F. Coat eggplant slices with beaten egg, then bread with panko crumbs. Spread oil on hot baking sheet and place eggplant slices on it in a single layer. Bake 15 minutes, flip and bake another 10 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 475°F. In an 8x10-inch ovenproof dish, layer pasta sauce, then eggplant, and top with cheeses. Repeat, finishing with cheese. [It's almost like an eggplant napoleon when you're done...using a bigger baking dish will help you have less density in the end result if this seems like an issue for you.] Bake until the cheese melts and turns golden in spots, about 15 minutes.

The recipe suggests a side dish of sautéed broccoli rabe. I agree that this sounds delicious, but two things -- that's something you can't put on and then walk away from, which makes it somewhat less weeknight-friendly. Also we don't happen to have any right now, but we do have whole grain thin spaghetti, which I like. I made a small amount of that with some garlic oil, added a salad, and felt fine about it. As, apparently, did everyone else.