I have an Eggplant Parmesan recipe that my mom made (recipe from a Detroit cookbook) – a winner, but I wanted to try a version without frying the eggplant. I found one – everything about this dish was so good, and made a full 9×13″ pan. The dish was hearty, so I made a cucumbers/Greek yogurt side dish – an all time summer favorite.

I tried a recipe from gimmesomeoven.com – she had a cool idea – use Panko breadcrumbs and toast them first (note: she mentions to watch them closely because they go from very light to very dark in the blink of an eye – you may have other things to do, but don’t be tempted to walk away – it only takes a few minutes for them to brown). So the eggplant is BAKED, which I love (vs. fried), which I don’t typically do and is a nightmare to me. I didn’t make my sauce – I used a good jar sauce – it was a bit thick for this dish, so I don’t think I would repeat that again, it was still very good, but thicker than we prefer. Note: there are notes on this recipe (click above link) that mention making it a day earlier and the ability to store it for days! I think it was even better a day or two later. It was so nice to not think about what to make another day, woohoo!

My mom made an eggplant parmesan recipe out of a Detroit Renaissance cookbook (I think???), and it was a cool recipe because it was one layer (perfect if you don’t want a ton of it) – I’ll have to retry that recipe with the baked eggplant pieces.

I opted to toast the panko as mentioned in the recipe, but I’m wondering why I did it? When it’s baked, there is no CrUnCh… which is the purpose of toasting the Panko. I thought about it when I was doing it, if it’s crunchy but topped with sauce/cheese, it’s not going to stay crunchy, and it didn’t. It was beautiful for sure, and maybe there was a little better flavor toasted?

🥗🌴☀️Message me (click CONTACT ME at the top) or comment if you have any good recipes for the hot days of summer – which pretty much everyone in the US is experiencing right now – so bizarre. #climatechangeisreal

👩‍💻 Until next time…