Fresh is Best

One of my absolute favorite things about Detroit is Eastern Market. Every Saturday vendors from near and far come to sell fresh produce, prepared food and plants in downtown Detroit. I truly loved our market in Baltimore  and knew it would be one of the things I missed the most. So you can imagine my joy when we found Eastern Market and all it has to offer. We have come to buy the majority of our groceries here every week, and even a collection of plants for our windowsill garden. (More on that to come later.) I am constantly impressed by the amazing fresh and local produce and the affordability of it all. Last week, among other things, I picked up a gem of an eggplant for just one dollar! I decided to try a new recipe, eggplant parmesan, with my dollar investment this week for a delicious meatless Monday dinner. And it was in fact delicious. I treated the eggplant just like chicken in it's preparation and presentation, though I have heard it served a lot of different ways. This summer my most used ingredient was zucchini; boats, spirals, lasagna, we did it all. As summer comes to an end it may be time to switch to eggplant, and this was a great introduction.

Eggplant Parmesan with Pasta

Eggplant Parmesan
1 large eggplant (Try to find one with a consistent diameter for even cooking.)
1 cup italian style bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs- lightly beaten
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 lb pasta
Tomato sauce (I defrosted a freezer bag from a large sauce batch, but store bought always works.)

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees and place an over rack in the top section of the over. Grease a cookie sheet or line with non-stick aluminum foil. In a shallow bowl, beat the two eggs. In another shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs with parmesan cheese. (At this point, if you choose you can remove the skin from the eggplant. I like the texture so I leave it on.) Slice the eggplant into one inch thick discs. Dip the eggplant discs one at a time into the egg then the breadcrumbs mixture. Place the coated eggplant on the baking dish and repeat steps for each piece of eggplant. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and flip the eggplant. Spoon sauce onto the eggplant and top with mozzarella cheese, return to the over for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is hot and bubbly. Serve with pasta.

Do you have any eggplant favorites I should be trying?