This was an emotional dish to make tonight because i grew up making eggplant parmesan in my italian kitchen with my mother. It’s one of the more complicated dishes she taught me to make and became a dish i took over making for big family holidays every year. We would fry up some eggplant in plenty of olive oil and eggs and bake it in a layered lasagna! (Epplant parmesan lasagna recipe to come!) So it was pretty powerful to make this healthy plant-based version for my own little family.
Well this minimalist bakers vegan eggplant parmesan recipe did not disappoint! The original recipe calls for frying it, no thank you! I left that part out.
And it called for a lengthy process of salting and drying out the eggplant. Double no thank you. I left that out too. Its unnecessary, and as a busy mama with a toddler, who needs all that extra work?! Simplify!
Okay here’s what i did:
Ingredients:
EGGPLANT PARMESAN
- 1 large eggplant
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
- 4 Tbsp vegan parmesan (click link for recipe) hint: it’s raw cashews, garlic powder, salt, and nutritional yeast.
- 2 tsp dried oregano (or 2 tsp fresh)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup unsweetened plain almond milk (or other neutral milk)
- 2 tsp arrowroot powder
Instructions:
- Put the flour in bowl 1.
- Put the arrowroot and milk in bowl 2. Whisk it with a fork to blend.
- Put the breadcrumbs, parmesan, salt, and oregano on bowl 3 and mix. (You can use plates with an edge too like my mama did!)
- Slice your eggplant thin with skin on for added nutrients. (You can use a mandolin if you need on thick slice setting. I just used a knife. Rebel)
- Have a parchment lined tray ready.
- Then go down the line coating and dipping each piece and laying them evenly on the tray. Get the kids involved! They love it! And are more likely to eat it if they made it.
Bake at 400° for 30 minutes flipping the eggplants with tongs at 20 minutes. Looking for that browned crispy look.
INGREDIENTS
Nutrient-Packed Pasta Marinara:
- 1lb whole wheat spaghetti
- 2 jars fat free (oil free) marinara
- 1 can drained white beans (navy, cannellini, or great northern)
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach
Boil pasta according to packaging.
In a blender add one jar marinara and the spinach and drained beans. Blend and heat on stove with other jar combined in a medium sauce pan.
*the sauce we used was trader joes fat free marinara. It was tasty! Whole foods makes one too but we don’t like it as much.
I served mine on an additional bed of baby spinach. The hot pasta will heat it up a little.
Top with more vegan parmesan!
Mangia Mangia! Eat Eat!
Mom tip: serve the kids eggplant on the side with a marinara dipper!
**tip: i used the blender first to make the parmesan. Then the sauce without cleaning it inbetween.
