From Garden to Oven
The other day Rich brought in two eggplants he picked from our garden. I love eggplant and this is how I go from garden to oven in a few easy steps for another one of my delicious meals.
I love frying up eggplant and after it cools I freeze them for making eggplant parmesan. Sometimes it doesn’t make it to the freezer because I love to eat the crunchy slices like cookies! But I’m happy to say some of this batch made it to the freezer and it also made it to the oven.
I wash the eggplant, cut the end off and cut in thin slices. Next I dip the slices in egg then flour. I know some like to dip in bread crumbs but eggplant is the one thing I still like to use flour on. I fry it in oil, flipping after the one side gets browned. When both sides are golden brown I drain on paper towels then transfer to a rack to cool. Now this is the step that is sometimes hard to get passed since I love to eat the fried eggplant as soon as it slightly cools!
I usually make a large dish of eggplant parmesan and freeze if for other meals but I knew if I did that, I would have pigged out on the entire dish instead of freezing the extra. LOL So I made a small dish, starting with marinara sauce, the fried eggplant, more sauce, mozzarella cheese until I had three layers of each. I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes then broiled it for a few minutes to brown the cheese. It smelled so good while in the oven!
I boiled up some spaghetti and served that with the eggplant parmesan and what a delicious meal! Half of the eggplant I prepared was plenty for my meal.
Now I was good and didn’t go overboard so I made a meal prep container for the next day! I had a bit of leftover spaghetti so I put that in with the eggplant. The next day I added a more sauce and cheese before I warmed it up. I forgot to take a picture before I started devouring it!
My eggplant dinner from garden to oven was the best and we don’t need Olive Garden when we have our own garden. I also have enough frozen eggplant to make at least four more meals! Gosh, I love meals like this!
So delicious! Great tip on splitting into smaller proportions to eliminate over enjoying! I will be trying this recipe using palmini for the pasta and almond flour for the flour! I just need to go get an eggplant!
I love making a large quantity of some things Cindy but I knew if I did that with the eggplant I would have devoured it all and that wouldn’t be a good thing! The two portion amount was perfect for two days. Let me know if you try this recipe.
I like the look of that eggplant still on the vine in your garden. There’s nothing like home-cooked food from your own garden.
Some of my favorite photos are when the vegetables are still growing Danwil. I love making meals with our fresh garden vegetables.
It all looks so delicious! You are actually making me wonder if I could like eggplant if it was covered with tomato sauce and cheese. I don’t think so, but I do LOVE the garden to table idea!!
You should try it Jeanine, the cheese and sauce camouflages the eggplant if you are concerned about the taste. Like Mickey said about Life cereal, try it, you might like it!
HI Maratha, thank you for the wonderful posts and pictures. My stepdad always loved eggplant and I haven’t had it for a long time since he passed. Have you ever tried mixing a little flour and bread crumbs to see how it worked? Just a thought. Anyway, thanks again for sharing. 🙂
You should make some in memory of your dad Samantha. Actually when I made my squash patties from grated squash I mixed the two together and it was so much better! I didn’t like just the flour and the breadcrumbs added flavor but didn’t make it as thick. By mixing the two, I had the seasoning from the bread crumbs and the flour made them more firm. I use wheat flour BTW.
Exactly right, you don’t need Olive Garden, you have your own!! Well done!
This was so good Tamara!
I haven’t had eggplant parmesan in a really long time. Since I don’t have any in a garden, I need to buy some and make this dish!
I love eggplant Dominique, hope you get to try this!
Yummy for the tummy!!!! Isn’t it fun to come up with delicious ways to use fresh vegetables?!
Coming up with new recipes is so exciting Alice, I love fresh vegetables.
I’ve never had eggplant parm but that looks soooooooo good! I’m going to have to try it out. We grew the Japanese style eggplants this year. They work well with roasting and in stir fry. But I chopped some for spaghetti sauce last week and that worked wonderfully. Thanks for the inspiration!
We grew Japanese eggplant a few years ago but I prefer the larger ones Angel. You gotta try this recipe, it’s delicious!