• Jazzing up Zucchini and Eggplant

    July 29, 2010 | 0 Comments

    It is that time of year where eggplant and zucchini are abundant.  Zucchini is wonderful for salads, baking bread and grilling.  But how can you jazz it up a bit? And what can you do with nutritious eggplant?  The answer is zucchini and eggplant parmigiana.

    Eggplant parmigiana can be a tricky thing.  In most eggplant parmigiana, the eggplant gets soggy while the nutritional value is negating by frying it in breadcrumbs.  The trick with making great eggplant parmigiana is driving the water out of the eggplant.  The eggplant is very watery.  If you don’t get some of the water out of the vegetable, you end up with soggy eggplant.  Slice the eggplant for this recipe about 1/2 in. thick then soak in salt water for 20 minutes to pull some of the water out of it.

    Ingredients

    • Bowl of Salt Water
    • 1 sliced zucchini
    • 1 sliced eggplant
    • 2 cups of fresh spinach
    • Tomato Sauce (jarred or your own recipe)
    • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
    • Panko breadcrumbs
    • Olive oil (best if sprayed out of a spray bottle)

    Instructions

    1. Soak the sliced zucchini and eggplant in salt water for about 20 minutes.  Pat dry.
    2. Preheat the grill. Turn the heat down to medium
    3. Spray the eggplant and zucchini with a light mist of olive oil.
    4. Place slices of zucchini and eggplant on the grill.  Grill about 3 minutes per side.
    5. Apply tomato sauce to both sides of the eggplant and zucchini with a basting brush.
    6. Add a few leaves of spinach to each slice of eggplant and zucchini.
    7. Immediately add a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese to the spinach and zucchini/eggplant.  Let the cheese melt and spinach wilt.
    8. Remove from heat.  Sprinkle the top of the cheese with a bit of panko breadcrumbs.
    9. Serve.

    This recipe is healthy, loaded with vegetables and not deep fried.  Pick up some zucchini and eggplant at the farmer’s market this weekend and give the recipe a try.

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