Baked Eggplant With Garlic, Tomatoes, and Fresh Herbs

Home style eggplant and tomato casserole is wonderful as a main dish, and perfect as a side dish for your favorite vegetable, meat, poultry, or seafood entree. Sauteed eggplant topped with a tomato sauce featuring garlic, onion, herbs, and dry white wine. The sauce is topped with cheese and baked until golden brown and the eggplant is tender.

Eggplant is plentiful throughout the year, and the American purple variety found in most supermarkets and farmers markets are especially nice during peak harvest from late summer through early fall. Slicing the eggplant crosswise into slices makes it an easy task to remove excess liquid. Draining off the liquid from the eggplant slices, and then patting dry is worth the time and effort. The taste and texture are both improved noticeably.

Cook's Notes:
If you need or want to, you can substitute chicken broth for the dry white wine.

Baked Eggplant with Garlic, Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs

Ingredients:

1 Large Eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/2" thick slices
Coarse Salt
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 large White Onion, finely chopped
1 Garlic Clove, minced or crushed
1/2 cup Dry White Wine
6 medium Vine Ripened Tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
1/2 cup chopped Fresh Parsley
2 teaspoons Dried Basil Leaves
1/4 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1/4 teaspoon Dried Thyme
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

Preparation:

1. Add eggplant to colander. Salt moderately, toss to coat.
2. Let stand 30 minutes.
3. Pat dry.
4. Add 1/2 the olive oil to large skillet. Heat over medium high heat.
5. Sauté eggplant slices in a few small batches. Brown on both sides lightly. Add additional olive oil as necessary.
6. Remove sauteed eggplant slices to platter.
7. Add onion and sauté until soft.
8. Stir in minced garlic, dry white wine, 5 of the vine-ripened tomatoes (chopped), tomato paste, parsley (reserve 1-tablespoon), basil, oregano, thyme.
9. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 15 minutes.
10. Uncover, and cook additional 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
11. Preheat oven to 350 F.
12. Spoon 1/2 the tomato sauce into shallow 2 quart casserole dish.
13. Place 1/2 the eggplant slices over tomato sauce. Repeat layers.
14. Top with remaining chopped tomato.
15. Cover with foil. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes.
16. Remove cover. Sprinkle cheese over casserole.
17. Bake 15 minutes, uncovered, or until cheese melts.
18. Garnish with reserved parsley.

Delicious eggplant recipes, like this eggplant casserole are a part of nearly every cuisine around the world. For delicious, taste-tested casserole recipes representing the best the culinary world has to offer, head to http://www.CasseroleRecipes.net.

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Beef and Eggplant Casserole Family Dinner Recipe

During the mid to late summer, our eggplant from our garden comes into season. One of our favorite eggplant recipes is this easy to make casserole dish with the addition of lean ground beef.

This recipe does take some time to make, so I would recommend it for a weekend dinner, however, your efforts to make it will be rewarded as it is very delicious.

Beef and Eggplant Casserole

2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cans (8 ounce) tomato sauce
1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/8 teaspoon anise seed
1 eggplant (about 1 1/4 pounds in size)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup seasoned dried bread crumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1-2 packages Mozzarella cheese, sliced

In a large skillet, melt the butter and then saute the onions, garlic and ground beef until the beef is no longer pink. Stir in the tomato sauce, oregano, basil, parsley and anise seed, mix well. Simmer the mixture for 7 minutes over low heat, then set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9 x 13" baking dish with nonstick vegetable spray. Wash eggplant and slice down to 1/4" thick pieces.

Combine eggs and 1 tablespoon water in a medium-sized bowl, mix well. In a large pie plate, combine the bread crumbs and a 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Dip the eggplant slices in egg mixture and then into the bread crumbs mixture, until they are coated in crumbs.

In a frying pan with a little bit of vegetable oil, saute the eggplant slices until they are golden brown on both sides, drain on paper towels.

Place a single layer of eggplant in the bottom of your baking dish. Sprinkle with some of the remaining Parmesan cheese, top with a few slices of Mozzarella cheese and then cover with some of the sauce. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used, making sure to cover the top with Mozzarella cheese.

Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Makes 4-6 servings.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a manager with Tupperware. Shelly enjoys cooking and baking for her family and friends. During the summer season, Shelly and her husband plant a large garden and enjoy fresh vegetables during the summer and fall. You can visit Shelly online at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for additional free recipes.

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