Eggplant Parmesan

Original Recipe HERE

I hadn't made a successful eggplant parmesan meal until this one.  The eggplant is either too tough or too mushy, the sauce lacks flavor, the cheese gets crusty, and so on.  However, this will now be my go-to eggplant parmesan recipe after I enjoyed it and Husband gave it rave reviews.  Neither kid liked it, but I've never had luck getting them to eat eggplant, so it wasn't a surprise.

I'm sure this could be made much healthier by baking the eggplant instead of frying it, but ehh...I was in the mood for some oil-drenched comfort food.

Ingredients

1 eggplant, sliced 1/2 inch thick

2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
olive oil
2 cans (14.5 oz each) tomato sauce
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 to 2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup to 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
pasta [optional]

Directions
(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a large baking dish.
(2) Heat 1/4 cup oil in large pan on medium-high heat.
(3) In a small bowl, combine eggs and pepper well.
(4) In another bowl, combine breadcrumbs and one teaspoon garlic powder.
(5) Dip eggplant slices into egg and then breadcrumbs.
(6) Add eggplant slices to pan in several batches; brown on each side (adjust heat level as needed).
(7) Remove to plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.  Wipe most of oil out of pan with paper towels when done.
(8) Add tomato sauce, onion, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, basil, and oregano to pain.  Heat to boiling, then simmer 10 minutes until slightly thickened.  Stir in butter until melted.
(9) Lay eggplant slices in baking dish (preferably in one layer).  Pour sauce over eggplant.  Sprinkle with Parmesan and Mozzarella.
(10) Cover with foil.  Bake 20-30 minutes.  Remove foil; bake 5-10 minutes longer.  Serve with pasta if desired.

Notes: Husband remarked that the sauce had just the right amount of saltiness, but the recipe could be short-cutted by just using jarred sauce.

Kid Participation: None...including consuming it, apparently.