After you’ve cooked more dinners for your family than you can count, you may start to get a little restless in the kitchen. Some of the old recipes are getting a little old and you want to start using new ingredients and exploring new things. Still, you want to make sure to introduce recipes that you know everyone is going to love and that won’t be too weird to eat. If you’re looking for a new alternative to something like chicken parmesan, for example, we have a perfect recipe for you.
Although it’s a relatively no-fuss vegetable to cook with, not many people work eggplant into their dinner routines too often. Still, it’s a versatile and easy to use vegetable that can be substituted into many different dinners without anyone really noticing. As perhaps the classic example, today we’re going to make oven-baked stuffed eggplant in the style of chicken parmesan. Just like the recipe it references, this dish is cheesy, fragrant and delicious—and it’s also a cinch to prepare. So let’s get started.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 large eggplants
- 1 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 chopped Roma tomatoes
- 1/2 cup of chopped white onions
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of chopped oregano
- 1 cup of shredded mozzarella
- 2 cups of tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup of mushrooms, washed and sliced
Here’s what you do:
1. Before getting started, make sure you set your oven to 400 degrees. After that, get a baking sheet and line it with some aluminum foil. Next, get out your eggplants and cut them in half, laying the cut side down. Rub each piece of eggplant with a tablespoon of olive oil and let them bake for about 25 minutes.
2. Take the eggplants out when they’re tender and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh of the inside, leaving about half an inch left in each one. Leave the scooped out eggplant in a bowl to the side.
3. Heat the rest of your olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Chop up your onions and mushrooms and when the pan is hot enough, throw them in. Let everything sauté for about six to seven minutes, until it gets soft. Next, add in your minced garlic and let it cook for another minute.
4. Add in your salt, pepper and oregano as seasoning and then add your extra scooped out eggplant to the skillet as well. Next, add your tomato sauce and stir everything up to combine. Let it cook for another 10 minutes.
5. When the time’s up, turn the heat off and scoop your eggplant mixture back into the eggplant shells from before. Top each one with a generous amount of mozzarella and put the tray back in the oven for another 20 minutes, until the cheese turns melty and bubbly.
6. After the time’s up, take the tray out of the oven and let it cool off for five minutes. Serve while it’s hot and enjoy!
Although this is a vegetarian recipe using eggplant instead of chicken, the entire thing ends up being reminiscent of chicken parmesan—and it tastes absolutely delicious. As always, this recipe is designed to be easy to put together (and to not cost much at the grocery store). Though this recipe is pretty great as it is, give it a try and make any tweaks that you see necessary. Above all, have fun and let us know what you think!
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