Food Friday – Baked and Breaded Eggplant

eggplant

So far, this is my favorite way to eat eggplant.

Breaded, Baked, Eggplant

1 medium eggplant
1 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon pepper
salt

1. Start by slicing your eggplant in 1/4 to 1/2 in. slices. Salt them and set them out on a cookie sheet. Place a second cookie sheet on top and press down onto the eggplant. Let this set for about 20 minutes. Rinse the eggplant slices under running water, set on a towel, and pat dry. This removes a lot of the extra juices from the eggplant and will help your breaded eggplant to not be too soggy.

2. Put the flour, 1/4 t pepper and 1/4 t salt in a bowl, mix. In a second bowl beat the egg with a fork. In a third bowl combine the cornmeal and parmesan cheese.

3. Dip the eggplant slices on both sides in the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, then the cornmeal mixture. Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

4. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, flipping halfway so they cook evenly on both sides.

5. You can serve as is or with a marinara sauce for dipping.

CSA – Week 11

Wow! 11 weeks of veggies already! Now that we’re well into summer, the last couple of boxes have been really great. Here’s this week’s box.

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More onions. These red torpedo onions are strong but so very tasty cooked! I just cry a LOT when I’m cutting them up.

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Corn. Last week’s corn was so delicious. I’m so excited to have more!

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Baby potatoes. My girls were super excited. We made baked potatoes. I’m hoping for more in the next box.

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Eggplant. I’ve never seen eggplant like this, but it’s actually easier to use because it’s in smaller portions, I can kind of sneak it into dishes and hope no one notices – let’s just say that they haven’t been impressed with my eggplant cooking skills. “It’s squishy” has been the most common comment.

I made some spaghetti sauce and tossed some eggplant in. My 6yr old caught me and asked what I was putting in the sauce. “Eggplant” I told her, “I’m going to puree it all when it’s cooked, so you won’t even know it’s in there.” 6yr old looks at my like I’m crazy, “but I know it’s in there!” She totally missed the point. She did eat the sauce for dinner and loved it. It’s amazing what you can hide in a puree.

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Red and yellow peppers. I love peppers.

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Tomatoes – these look a little rough, probably from the week of non-stop rain we had. They’re still tasty though and made great spaghetti sauce.

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Cantaloupe, a favorite fruit at my house. This one didn’t have a ton of flavor but it was nice and juicy, so still pretty tasty.

CSA – Week 10

This week’s csa box has some super tasty vegetables!

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Red onions again. These are so delicious!

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Eggplant. I’m not very good at cooking with this vegetable, but I love the color of it.

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Carrots. Lots of little carrots, this was probably the last of them for a while.

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Basil, I have plenty in my freezer already I’m thinking that I’ll try dehydrating some and see how they turn out.

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I’m excited about corn. We love corn and haven’t had it in our box yet.

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Cucumbers. I’m thinking I’ll make more pickles!

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Cherry tomatoes. They’re so yummy!