My friend Beth gave me an assignment – create a vegan (non-dairy), gluten-free, fat-free (or close too it), additive-free Eggplant Parmesan to use in Sandwiches.
You know how I am, can’t resist a challenge. So I started experimenting. Many of the recipe components can be found on the Basic Recipes Pages: Tapioca Eggs, Cashew Cheese and Quick Italian Red Sauce. Please refer to that page for the specific recipe otherwise this post is going to be way to long.
EGGPLANT NON PARMESAN
- 1. Prepare the Raw Eggplant
- Slice the Eggplant into 1/4-1/2 inch rounds
- Soak in salt water for about 1 hour – use something to hold the slices under water
- Prepare the bread crumbs
- Grind Gluten Free Toast into fine bread crumbs
- Put crumbs in a shallow dish and add salt, desiccated dried garlic, desiccated dried onions with some dried basil
- Make Tapioca Eggs
- Prepare the actual eggplant
- Pull eggplant out of water and pat dry
- Turn oven to 350 degrees
- Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper
- Dunk eggplant in tapioca eggs and then dredge through the bread crumbs
- Place breaded pieces on cookie sheet and put in the oven
- Bake 15 minutes and then turn the veggies over and bake another 15 minutes
- Remove from oven and let stand to cool
- While the eggplant is baking make the Quick Italian Red Sauce
- While the eggplant is baking and the sauce is simmering make the Cashew Cheese; I put about 1/4 cup extra water so that I could pour the cheese out of a cup
- Assemble the parts
- Lightly oil a shallow baking dish
- Cover the bottom of the dish with Quick Italian Red Sauce
- Dribble 1/2 of the Cashew Cheese over the sauce
- Lay Eggplant on top of the sauce and the cheese
- Dribble the rest of the Cashew Cheese over the eggplant
- Cover the dish with Quick Italian Red Sauce
- 5. Bake for 45 minutes – should check it after 30 minutes because if you over bake it the eggplant will get a little mushy.
After all of this you will be spending a fair amount of time cleaning up the kitchen unless you are a much neater cook than I. In fairness, however, I have to tell you that David says most people are neater cooks than I . He knows since he is the one who most often cleans up after me. The real thing I got was that next time I will prep the eggplant (step 1) the day before and have that part done and cleaned up before I start with the cashew cheese and sauce.
This is a lot like making Lasagna only instead of using noodles for the layers you use eggplant. It’s just a lot more involved because of all eggplant prep time. By the time I put it in the oven, I was seriously wondering if it was worth all the effort. It way violates my “30 minutes in the kitchen tops” rule.
One taste, however convinced me it was probably worth it! It was yummy hot out of the oven. Two days later when I put it in sandwiches it was almost beyond belief.
As long as I was experimenting anyway, we tried treating our big heirloom zucchini the same as the eggplant. Didn’t soak it, but did egg, bread and bake it. I am happy to report it worked out great!
So Beth, there you have it!! I didn’t get a picture, but next time I make it I will and send it to you. BTW If you want the recipe with all the parts on one page, email me and I will sent it to you as a PDF.
