Eggplant Parmesan

2 posts in 2 days?? Unprecedented? Yes. Winds of change? Sadly, no. Just a short comment on a couple of unexpected things that happened to me in the last few days. First off, remember my complete lack of a green thumb? Well, it must be slightly reversible as I have eggplants! That's right. Turns out, my enormous, yet worthless eggplant is not as barren as I initially expected. This weekend, I came home to no fewer than 6 little eggplants that quickly became medium sized eggplants. Now, I mentioned a few months back that I don't really care for eggplant. This turns out to be not entirely true. I quite like 1 eggplant-based dish in particular - if you haven't already guessed, it's eggplant parmesan (seriously, if you didn't guess that, you might consider some critical thinking exercises). This leads me to unexpected thing number 2 - so do the kids in my cooking class. Seriously, if someone had told me last week that I could get these soda and chips guzzling kids to eat eggplant, I would have laughed. I only chose the recipe because a) I needed to use up the eggplant and b) I thought it would be great fun if the kids cooked me dinner, but they gobbled it up! If I were a really good PCV, this would morph into a summer gardening/fresh vegetable cooking extravaganza, but it's REALLY hot in the summer. We'll have to see. For those of you who are interested in trying the Vincy children approved recipe, here it is (from www.allrecipes.com).

Eggplant Parmesan

3 eggplants, peeled and thinly sliced
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups bread crumbs
6 cups tomato sauce
16 oz mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Fresh basil to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
2. Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs. Bake for 5 minutes on each side.
3. In a 9 x 13 baking dish, spread sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with cheese.
4. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Enjoy!