Cooking had been a hobby of mine for many years. When I was teaching in the 1970’s, I went to cooking school with my fellow associates. It was sort of a humorous thing to do because I was single and only kept yogurt in my refrigerator. It was called Ralph Varketta’s Cooking School. Ralph would show us how to prepare food and then we would eat what he prepared. One of the best things he taught was how to schedule the different parts of a meal and how to prepare the foods ahead of time. Every month was a different meal and included soup, appetizers, main course and desert. Because of my love of cooking, I am going to feature some of my favorite recipes once a month.This week’s recipe is a roasted eggplant. I had a similar dish at one of our local restaurants and tried to replicate it at home. I served this with a hearty vegetable soup.
Eggplant Parmesan
1 eggplant
Fresh mozzarella
Fresh Spinach
Bottle of your favorite Tomato Sauce
Garlic
Olive oil
Salt, Pepper
Slice the eggplant into ¼” slices. It is not necessary to peel it. Sprinkle salt on both side of the eggplant. Let it sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, rinse the salt off and pat it dry. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking oil. Put the eggplant slices on the cookie sheet and brush with olive oil on both sides. Salt and pepper the eggplant. Roast for about 20 minutes, turning them over half way. While the eggplant is roasting, sauté your spinach. Place a few teaspoons of olive oil in a pan, add 2 cloves of minced garlic, salt and pepper and sauté you spinach. Get a 13 X 9 inch roasting pan. Put some of the tomato sauce in the pan. When the eggplant is done, place it in the pan. Put some sautéed spinach on top of the eggplant. On top of the spinach add some fresh mozzarella. Put back in the oven at 350 degrees, just until the cheese is melted and the tomato sauce is warm.
What recipes would you like me to include?