It has been a while since I’ve managed a post and I’d like to say it was all because I was traveling, or cooking or doing something fantastic. It’s not. Work, and readjusting to the hours, has kept me busy and the photo glitch in the WordPress app made posting slightly more difficult. I think the glitch is finally fixed.

I have been cooking and baking. Recently I made my own version of eggplant parm. No bread coating or frying of the eggplant, but a lighter version.

  
The basic idea came from a Jamie Oliver recipe I found. But I didnt like the sauce recipe, the lack of mozzarella cheese or much other than the baking, sans bread coating, the eggplant. 

So I started with two eggplants that I had in the fridge. I sliced them down and baked in a 350 oven for about ten minutes per side. While those were cooking, I fine diced a half a large sweet onion and about four cloves of garlic. I sweated the onion in a pan with some olive oil then added the garlic for about two minutes at the end. Once the garlic was fragerent I added one can of crushed tomatoes, two tablespoons chopped oregano and salt and pepper. I let that cook while the eggplant baked and set about grating and slicing cheese. Right before finishing the sauce, I added about four large leaves of basil, chopped fine to the sauce.

  
I had some pecorino (about an ounce) left in the fridge, so I used my microplaner to finely grate it and I sliced down about six ounces of mozzarella.

  
To assemble I started like a lasagna and coated the bottom of my pan with a little sauce. I added one layer of eggplant and topped them with the mozzarella. I added a little sauce and the pecorino. One more layer of eggplant, and more sauce. I tool the last of the pecorino and combined it with panko breadcrumbs (about 1/3 cup) and a tablespoon or two of olive oil. I sprinkled that over top and baked in 350 oven for about 40 minutes. 

  
The result was fantastic. Lots of eggplant parm taste, including the crunch of the topping, but still light. Bob really liked this version also and I took his question about where I got the recipe as a compliment. This is definitely a make again.

Recipe:

• 2 eggplants, sliced about 1/4 in.
• 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 large sweet onion, or 1 small onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons chopped oregano
• ~2 tablespoons chopped basil
• 6 oz. mozzarella, sliced
• 1-2 oz . Pecorino cheese, finely grated
• 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper