vorace.: Low Carb Eggplant Parm

It's the last day of April (and my boyfriend's birthday!! Happy birthday my love!), and the last post for Vegetarian Celebration April. I've come with it to provide you another power house vegetarian recipe! One of this half-Italian girl's favorites: eggplant parmesan.

There's the traditional veal parmesan (oh hell no!), the lighter chicken parm (my boyfriend's Italian mom's star dish), and the famous vegetarian version: eggplant parmesan. I'm always relieved when I see this dish on the menu when I'm out at Italian restaurants. It's hearty, it's filling, and it's always a winner. It was the first thing that came to mind back in the fall when I had just gone low-carb but wanted a satisfying Italian meal. I knew I couldn't make the usual breaded eggplant parm because I wasn't eating carbs/bread, so I rummaged through my pantry in search of a bread crumb substitute. I had some ground flax and almond meal on hand for some low-carb baking I was experimenting with, and decided to use both as the coating on my eggplant. Brills!

The recipe I came up with that night was really tasty, so I decided to make it again and share it with you today. I topped the fried eggplant with a homemade chunky tomato sauce and stacked it all on top of some brown rice spaghetti smothered in pesto. (Yes, you're right: I'm obsessed with pesto. Just go with it!) And I used a slightly pungent soft goat cheese instead of the traditional mozzarella. My meat-eating, carb-loving boyfriend ate this meal - including the brown rice pasta! - and exclaimed that it was the best vegetarian meal he had ever eaten. Score! Of course you can use seasoned bread crumbs and regular semolina spaghetti, but I highly recommend going this low-carb route just to try it. It's really good y'all!

OK, let's get cookin'!

vorace.'s Eggplant Parmesan

Servings: 3

Prep time: 30 minutes, throughout some of the cooking time

Cooking time: 1 hour

I'm going to break this down by component, so keep scrolling for the full recipe.

Ingredients:

Sauce

4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

1 teaspoon crushed garlic - equivalent of 2 cloves minced

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 sweet onion, chopped into chunks

28 ounce can peeled tomatoes

1/2 small can tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayn sea salt

1/4 taspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)

1/8 cup red wine (I used Cab Franc, but use whatever good drinking wine you have on hand)

Place a medium sized pot on the stove over medium low heat.

Drizzle in the EVOO and add the crushed garlic. Allow the oil to heat up and the garlic to melt into it, about two minutes. Then add the crushed red pepper and stir.

Next add the chunky chopped onion and saute in the oil for another two minutes until slightly softened and opaque.

Add the entire can of peeled tomatoes.

Use your spatula to break up the tomatoes into smaller chunks, like so:

Next, add the tomato paste and give it a stir to combine with the rest of the ingredients.

[Photo courtesy of my boyfriend,

who thought this picture was really cool!]

Sprinkle in the dried Italian herbs, bay leaf, salt, and pepper, and leave to cook over low heat for about fifteen minutes (while you make the pesto and set up for your eggplant assembly).

After your sauce has been simmering for fiften minutes, add the wine and stir.

Cover and allow to simmer over low heat while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Basil Pesto

1 cup (tightly packed) fresh basil

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup pinoli, toasted

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon pink Himalyan sea salt

1/4 teaspoon FCBP

1/4 cup EVOO

Add all of the ingredients except the EVOO to a food processor.

Turn on the food processor and mix the ingredients until you have a smooth paste.

Keep the food processor on and slowly drizzle in the EVOO. You should end up with a thick, but smooth sauce, which I forgot to get a picture of - sorry! But you know what pesto looks like! :-)

Set aside while you make the rest of the dish.

Eggplant

1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch round slices

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup ground flax

1/8 cup almond meal

2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs

1/4 teaspoon pink Himalan sea salt

1/4 teaspoon FCBP

2 eggs

Splash of milk

EVOO - enough to cover the bottom of a non-stick pan

1/4 teaspooon crushed garlic - or one cloved cracked garlic

Chevre (soft goat cheese) - as much as you want!

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place a large pot filled 3/4 full with water on the stove over high heat. When it comes to a boil, add your spaghetti and set a timer for the amount of time indicated for cooking on the back of the pasta box.

Next, place a non-stick pan on the stove over medium heat. Drizzle in the EVOO and a the crushed garlic. Allow to heat up while you prepare the eggplant.

Now, set up an assembly line. First, set up a plate covered in a layer of paper towels that you will use to drain the eggplant when it comes out of the oil.

Secondly, include a plate with the cheese, ground flax, almond meal, dried Italian herbs, salt, and FCBP, like so:

Use your hands to thoroughly mix the ingredients together:

Set up a second plate or shallow bowl with the eggs & milk, scrambled together:

Use a fork to dip each slice of eggplant into the eggs, coating both sides.

Pick up the slices with a fork and place them in the cheese/crumb mixture, turning it over to coat each side completely.

Place the coated eggplant slices into the oil and allow to cook on the first side for about one minute.

When the first side is nice and crispy brown, flip it to the second side.

Once each sideis adequately browned, remove the slices from the oil and place on the paper towel plate.

In a large baking dish, place three slices of fried eggplant. Top each slice with chevre crumbles. Then add another slice on top of the cheese. Add cheese to the top of that. Repeat this until you have used up all of your slices:

Place in the oven to bake for five minutes, just to melt the cheese slightly while you prepare your pesto spaghetti.

By now your noodles should be about done cooking. Remove the pot from the heat, drain the noodles into a colander in the sink, and then place the pasta back into the empty, warm pot you cooked them in.