Healthy Eating: Eggplant Parmigiana

My husband loves eggplants!  He can eat eggplants the whole day - fried, roasted, boiled, in a salad, what-have-you!  I thought of making eggplant parmigiana for him one weekend instead of our usual pasta snack (lasagna, baked mac, spaghetti).

This recipe is from Panlasang Pinoy.  The steps are very easy and the ingredients are readily available.  I didn't use the marinara sauce from this site though.  I used Giada de Laurentiis' Marinara sauce recipe from the Food Network.

You should try this one weekend.  It's a good side dish for lunch or you can get one serving for a snack.  I made baked salmon as the main dish for lunch with this as our side.  Nice combination!

Prepare the marinara sauce first.

Marinara Sauce
Recipe by Giada de Laurentiis from Food Network

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped (didn't have this available)
• 1 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I used ordinary iodized salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 dried bay leaves (didn't have this available

Heat olive oil in a pan.  Saute onions, garlic, carrots and season with salt and pepper.  Add the tomatoes and simmer for 1 hour.

Eggplant Parmigiana
Recipe from Panlasang Pinoy

• 2 pieces eggplants (the recipe used huge eggplants {check the tutorial video in the site}so I used 4 pieces of eggplants)
• 2 pieces raw eggs
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 ounces mozarella cheese, shredded
• 2 1/2 cups marinara sauce (see recipe above from Giada de Laurentiis)
• 1/2 cup parmesan and romano cheese, grated (I used parmesan only)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes (didn't have parsley flakes so I skipped this)

Peel and slice the eggplants.

Lightly beat eggs in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix the bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt and black pepper.

Dip the eggplants into the eggs and roll in the bread crumb mixture.


Heat the olive oil in the pan and fry the eggplants until their golden brown. 

Place the fried eggplants in a plate covered in paper towels to absorb the extra oil.

Preheat your oven to 350F.

In an oven dish, pour 1/3 of the marinara sauce.

Arrange a layer of eggplants on top of the marinara. 

 

Pour some of the marinara sauce on top then sprinkle with parmesan.  Repeat this for 2 or 3 layers.

On the topmost layer, spread the shredded mozarella cheese.

Bake for 18-22 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes and serve!

Pawis rating: 3 of 5 easy but I found that frying is time-consuming :-( 

Mini Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

Brunch heaven!

What to do with spinach? I have spinach that I need to use immediately! Then I have salami, also needs to be consumed asap. Then some mushrooms.

I had to think what food have I enjoyed that has spinach and mushrooms? Quiche of course!

Starbucks used to have spinach quiche that was just heavenly. Too bad, I think they discontinued this product. I don't see it in stores anymore :-(

Off I went to Food Network to get an easy recipe for quiche. I was imagining a dish of quiche then I saw this recipe for mini-quiches! So cute!!! Here is the link, Mini Spinach and Mushroom Quiche. Not all ingredients are readily available in our town or in Manila (Turkey Bacon? Fontina cheese?) so I had to substitute.

Here's my version:

Mini Spinach and Mushroom Quiche
Adapted from the Food Network

• olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 small can of mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup spinach
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup milk
• 6 whole eggs
• pinch of nutmeg
• 5 slices of salami, chopped into squares
• cheddar cheese, grated or sliced

Heat a nonstick pan with a spray of olive oil. Add the minced shallot and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn off the heat and add the spinach. Stir just until the spinach is wilted.

In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add milk and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Spray or brush your muffin pan with olive oil.

Pour the egg mixture into the muffin pan, filling about halfway.

Distribute the mushroom-spinach mixture evenly.

Top with salami.

Then the cheese.

Pour the rest of the egg mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the quiche has risen.

Serve hot or warm.



Pawis rating: 2 of 5 very easy!

Healthy Eating: Very Easy Parmesan Broccoli

I first saw this in Can You Stay for Dinner? and then at the Food Network website. The recipe was so easy and looks delish!

So why not try?

Parmesan Broccoli from the Food Network

• Broccoli florets
• Minced garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Grated parmesan
• Japanese breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 450F. Blanch the broccoli florets

Drain the hot water and place in a bowl. Add the minced garlic, a few drops of extra virgin olive oil, a few tablespoons of grated parmesan and Japanese breadcrumbs.

Place in a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Transfer to a plate and serve.

Pawis rating: 1 of 5 super easy!