Eggplant Parmesan- quick, easy and tasty

Eggplant parm is quick, easy and really really tasty. This is an especially easy recipe and the only time I ever use sauce from a jar. I like to feature the eggplant in the dish and don't want to overpower it with sauce, so cheating and using a good quality marinara from a jar is okay for this recipe. I served the eggplant parm tonight with a mixed green salad and a white balsamic dressing and some crusty italian bread and it made a great meatless, yet filling meal. Here is a step by step process for making Eggplant Parmesan:

Ingredients:(Serves 4)

2 Small eggplant-peeled and sliced
1 Jar good quality marinara sauce- I used Emeril's
2 Eggs
3 TBSP milk
2 Cups Italian bread crumbs
1/2 Cup olive oil
1- 8 Oz. Package finely shredded mozzarella
2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel eggplant and slice into 3/8" slices. (Some people like to leave the skin on but I don't.)

Sliced eggplant

Peeled eggplant

Cover the bottom of a 9"x9" glass baking dish with marinara sauce, about 1/4" deep. 

Crack 2 eggs into a flat pan. Add the milk and whisk together. Add some of the Italian bread crumbs to another flat pan. Replenish as required.

Italian bread crumbs and egg and milk mixture

Dredge the eggplant slices a few at a time in the milk and egg mixture until coated on all sides, and transfer slices to the italian breadcrumbs. Turn and dredge slices until evenly coated with the bread crumbs. Set aside on a paper towel. 

Pour olive oil into a large skillet and place on a burner on medium high. Fry the breaded eggplant slices in the hot oil, a few at a time, until golden brown and tender. Don't let the oil get too hot. The eggplant should just sizzle a little while cooking.When slices are done use a tongs and lay on the marinara in the 9x9" dish. Repeat until the pan has a single layer of eggplant slices covering the bottom as in the photo below.

First layer of eggplant on the marinara

Continue frying eggplant slices and add another layer over the first layer of slices until you have a double layer filling the dish. Pour more marinara over the second layer of slices and brush it around until evenly coated. I ended up using just a little more than half of the 25 Oz. jar of marinara. Don't use too much sauce or the dish will get soupy. 

Cover the top of the dish with enough of the finely shredded mozzarella to make a 1/4" layer of cheese. Spread the parmesan cheese over the top of the mozzarella so it looks like this:

Bake in the 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the dish is hot and bubbly and the cheese has melted and has just begin to brown. Let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving. To make a larger batch use 2-3 large eggplant. Use a larger baking dish and adjust sauce and cheese as needed. 

After golf pick-up dinner

Today was a big day for me !! My friend Craig Burroughs is an excellent golfer and his little brother Clark is a former PGA tour professional. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I started playing golf when I was 50 years old and that I am not very good. (That is being kind). Well, today I played with Craig and Clark and another friend. I honestly have to admit that I didn't sleep very well last night in anticipation of playing with a pro. I never play well with people that I am not used to playing with, so I was naturally quite nervous. It showed, but Clark got me calmed down and made it very fun to play with him. Like usual, I had some bad holes but had some good ones too and those are the ones I choose to remember. Thanks Clark, for making it fun. Just wish I could hit a golf ball like that. He was two under and didn't really take it all that seriously. 

I decided that I would come home in a good mood and do something I think I am good at. I made what I call a pick-up meal, and it turned out to be really really good. Pick-up just means that I din't have a preconceived menu or recipes picked out ahead of time.  The pick-up menu was seared salmon on a bed of wilted spinach, topped with Beurre Blanc sauce. My neighbor Susie had borrowed a pie server from us and brought it back, along with a dish of really good pasta salad. That was our side. I hope to get the recipe from her and will feature that later on Grandpacooks. It was some of the best pasta salad I have ever had. 

Here are the recipes for what I did:

Seared salmon:

Ingredients: (serves 2)

2   6-7 Oz. salmon fillets, skin removed
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse ground sea salt
Coarse ground black pepper
Lemon pepper seasoning

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle salmon pieces with olive oil and rub over the entire surface of each piece of salmon. Season with the salt, pepper and lemon pepper seasoning. Place 1-2 TBSP olive oil in an oven proof skillet. Heat over high heat until oil just begins to smoke. Sear the salmon on one side, two to three minutes. Turn and sear the other side. Place Salmon in the 400 degree oven and finish to the desired level, approximately 4-5 minutes. 

Wilted Spinach:

Ingredients:

1-2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 TBSP pine nuts
15 Oz. baby spinach
Coarse ground sea salt 
Coarse ground fresh black pepper

Preparation:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When oil begins to show ribbons, add garlic. Saute until soft and translucent. Add spinach and pine nuts. Saute until spinach has wilted and given up most of it's liquid. Season with salt and pepper. 

Beurre Blanc:

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup dry white wine, like Chardonnay
1/4 Cup white wine vinegar
1 TBSP minced shallots
2 TBSP heavy cream
8 Oz. unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Combine wine, vinegar and shallots in a small(1 Quart) saucepan. Place on range on medium heat and simmer to reduce, until the liquid barely covers the shallots. Add cream and reduce again until cream is lightly thickened and very shiny. Reduce heat to low. Begin whisking butter a piece or two at a time into the reduction. Whisk continually and keep adding butter until it is all incorporated into the sauce. If the mixture gets too hot, reduce heat or remove pan from the flame. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

To serve, place wilted spinach on a plate. Top with a piece of the seared salmon and drizzle the beurre blanc over the salmon and spinach. The tricky part of this is that everything is kind of happening at once. To make it easier, wilt the spinach and then turn off the heat. It will hold for a while and then just turn the heat on a couple of minutes before you serve it. You can do the sauce a little ahead too and hold it on low low heat for a few minutes. 

We had this meal with a nice Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and it was excellent. Salute !!

Thai Quinoa Casserole

Here is a vegetarian dish that is healthy and delicious. It makes a great side for meat lovers too.  If you like spicy you can kick it up a notch or if you like mild go light on the curry powder and the cayenne.  

Ingredients:

(for main dish)
1 Cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 Small red onion, chopped
11/2 Cups broccoli, chopped
11/2 Cups cauliflower florets, chopped
11/2 Cups frozen shelled edamame
1 Red bell pepper, diced
1 Cup water
1 14 Oz. can coconut milk
11/2 tsps. curry powder
1 tsps. ground ginger
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsps. sea salt

(for peanut sauce)
1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 Cup water
2 Garlic cloves, minced
4 TBSP rice vinegar
4 TBSP tamari or soy sauce
2 TBSP honey
2 tsps. ground ginger
1/2 tsps. red pepper flakes

Preparation:

Prepare peanut sauce by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and set aside. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray. Add uncooked quinoa to casserole dish, spreading evenly. Top with onion, broccoli, cauliflower, edamame, and red bell pepper. 

In a mixing bowl, combine water, coconut milk, curry powder, ginger, cayenne and salt. Mix thoroughly and pour mixture over quinoa and vegetables until well coated. Top with half of the peanut sauce and cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes covered. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed by the quinoa. Top with remaining sauce and serve.