Dinner Challenge

David came home on Saturday afternoon with some produce from the farmer's market:

• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 purple eggplant 
• 2 Japanese eggplants
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 cucumbers

The cucumbers were easy. I could eat them with humus or they could go in a salad. So I put those aside. The other ingredients sounded like an eggplant parmesan stack to me.  So, here's what I did.

I chopped a white onion and opened two cans of diced tomatoes and 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes (all of which I already had).  I chopped the bell pepper too. 

I put the following into the blender and pureed into a sauce: 

• 1/2 chopped white onion
• 1/2 chopped green bell pepper
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• oregano
• red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper
• pinch of sugar
• olive oil

I put that into a crock pot with a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes, two diced Japanese eggplants, the other half of the chopped onion and bell pepper. I added bay leaves, white wine vinegar, a little ketchup, and a good handful of Parmesan cheese. Set on high to cook in the crock pot for several hours.

I sliced the purple eggplant and put it on the baking rack to drain. I sprinkled it with salt and put it in the fridge until I was ready to bread it.  Simple breading - flour, egg, panko (with salt & pepper and oregano). Then I baked it in the oven for 15 minutes until golden brown.

I assembled the stacks: eggplant, mozzarella cheese, sauce, repeat. Top with a sprinkling of cheese on top. I put them back into the oven to heat through and melt the cheese. Serve warm with fresh tomatoes sprinkled over the top. 

Delicious! It was completely meat free, but the diced Japanese eggplants were like ground meat in the sauce. All I had to buy was the mozzarella and some bread for sopping up that yummy sauce. 

This was so easy! I highly recommend it.