BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine American Regional Cuisine eggplant parm

I'm making eggplant parm for a dinner party friday nite. My recipe is quite basic..even the sauce is just plain tomato sauce spiked with organo, basil and garlic. Any suggestions to take it over the top without going to too much expense or time? I thought of using Newmans Own Sockaroonie instead of plain sauce, it's great.

Hi Granny...sounds like a lovely dinner party. I've never tried the Newmans but it is probably a good one. This recipe is pretty cost effective too.

When I make my eggplant parm for my family, I cut the eggplant into rounds (if the skin is fresh and new, I sometimes will leave it on or a part of it on. If it's a bit older or thick, I take the skin completely off)

I dip the eggplant in flour, egg and bread crumbs and fry it until golden brown. For the sauce, I use Hunts in a can, Classic Italian, Chunky Vegetable. A 26 ounce can costs about .99 cents (on sale) to $1.50. It has 1 gram of fat (no saturated or trans fats) no cholesterol, 2 grams of protein, 3 grams of dietary fiber, vitamins A and C and Calcium and iron. Not too shabby for under 2 bucks and enough to make a 9x13 pan. You also don't have to doctor it up at all, you can if you'd like to but it's really pretty good.

I always go light on the sauce with eggplant parm. I like to cut a piece that has just the right amount of sauce for taste and moistness but I like the flavors of the eggplant and cheeses to shine through and not get lost swimming in the sauce.

In a sprayed pan, I place a little sauce on the bottom, then my fried eggplant, a touch of sauce and my mozz and parm, then repeat layers....then bake.

Hope that's a good suggestion for you....let me know what you think

Sounds great. Newmans Own is fantastic sauce. Sockarooni is every bit as good as any home made I've ever had. I googled for coupons for it and found one for $1.00 off 2 jars. Lucky me my grocer had them on sale too so I made out like abandit. I'll use your process to assemble and bake.. My vacatin week is going all too fast bu I'm havin a great time.

I will look for this when I go shopping next, you make it sound really good! And a coupon and a sale....way to go!

Why do vacation weeks go faster than work weeks....hmmmmm?!!!! Enjoy the rest of it

Vacation is almost over and it feels like I need to go back to work to rest...hhahahahahahahaha. Dinner party was a smash, eggplant parm was great...caesar salad and rosemary/olive oil bread dipped in seasoned olive oil and margaritas. Snack was mango peach salsa mixed with cream cheese served with tortilla chips. Us girls know how to put the feedbag on..LOL LOL LOL

"Us girls know how to put the feedbag on" Right on girlfriend!!

Are you having fun "resting" at work this week?!?!

vacation was great....can't wait until the next one in September

I'm finding it hard to believe that it's almost August already! We've had sooo much rain and almost every day this summer that it's weird to think that Fall will be here in a couple of months. I wonder if we'll have an Indian Summer? That would be nice.

Yes, I love eggplant, good ingredients for vegetarian lasagna, taste so good and easy to make too.

Glad you enjoyed it