10 | July | 2010 | healthy laps

pesto & eggplant parmesan

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Jen

Check out the gorgeous flowers my husband came home with today!

What a great guy! 🙂

What is better on a Friday night than a home cooked meal?! Sure, going out is nice, but you won’t always get something as delicious as this:

Pesto & Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
2 eggs
1 -2 cups almond flour
Italian seasoning mix (or herbs of choice)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cans diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
homemade Garlic Scrape Pesto (see recipe below)

I pretty much made up this recipe on the spot with what we had on hand. It isn’t the healthiest version of eggplant parm (for super healthy eggplant parm, you can just bake the eggplant), but I wanted breaded eggplant, so here is my take. It turned out great! However, next time I think I would do a few things differently:

Use a thicker tomato sauce
Cook the eggplant for longer pre-baking
Bread the eggplant, then pre-bake it to brown instead of frying (obviously, you need more time for this!)
Use more pesto!!

On to the recipe! I am going to take you through step by step, so bare with me. 🙂

Start off by slicing your eggplant, keeping all of the slices the same size.

Set up your dipping stations. Whisk 2 eggs together and pour onto a plate or low bowl. Scoop the almond flour onto another plate and mix with herbs of choice.

Dip the eggplant slice by slice into the egg,

then into the almond flour mixture.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and warm 1 tbsp of olive oil. Then, add the first batch of breaded eggplant and ‘fry’ on each side for 2-3 minutes until browned.

Repeat for the next batch.

Once all of your eggplant is ‘fried’, preheat your oven to 350F. Then, begin to make up your dish.

Start with a layer of diced tomatoes (or tomato sauce).

Add a layer of eggplant, scoop on some pesto, and add 1/2 of the mozzarella.

Add a little tomato sauce, then repeat the steps adding some pesto and ground pepper to the top.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling, then add a few basil leaves for garnish and broil until slightly browned. (Make sure you watch it closely while broiling, as it browns fast!)