A milestone was reached in our 7+ year marriage on Monday.
I finally cooked eggplant.
Brian did not wrinkle his nose in protest.
(Catch up here if you don’t know what a big deal eggplant is in our household.)
Sorta following a recipe passed on by one of my coworkers, I thinly sliced eggplant, then dipped the slices in egg wash followed by Italian breadcrumbs. After baking these till golden brown, I layered the slices, some marinara sauce and cheese. We had a good amount of monteray jack cheese in the fridge, so I didn’t bother purchasing parmesan or mozzarella. I did, however, take one of the layers and use cream cheese instead of monteray jack to be certain that my little dish was extra creamy once baked. (The cream cheese was brilliant and really took this dish to another level.)
“It was a nine out of ten,” Brian admitted. “The only thing that would have made it a ten would be if it had meat in it.”
True.
He used to always peer over my shoulder at whatever I was cooking and inquire, “What is it? Is there meat in it?”
Points are always deducted if it happens to be vegetarian-friendly.
Nevertheless, I am pleased and inspired. It certainly shouldn’t be much more of a hassle upgrading this recipe to accommodate his carnivorous preferences.
We’ve got leftovers in the fridge if you want a taste!
Save some for me.
Yum! Sounds a little like moussaka which our family loves… and it has meat because we aren’t too vegetarian friendly either.
Here’s the recipe we’ve used: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/moussaka-recipe/index.html
Make some more this weekend. 🙂
Funny you should mention eggplant. Went to dinner last night at Mykonos in Rockville, with a friend. Didn’t feel like meat or poultry (it’s hot!) so ordered
Iman Baldi which is eggplant with pine nuts, tomatoes, olive oil and onions. They serve with pita and its soft and almost spreadable. So delicious. Yours sounds wonderful as well. I’m printing your instructions. Have to tell you the butternut squash soup was absolutely TERRIFIC. Made it a few weeks ago. Will tell you more when I see you.
Glad you liked it…but I’ll let you keep the eggplant:) We do no vegetarian in this house…your Uncle would revolt:)
I follow wanna try some! Yummy!
I meant to comment on this when I read it. I’ve been making eggplant parmesan for many years, but never, and I mean never, have I ever thought of adding cream cheese!! Maybe it’s because I’m frying up the egg dipped, bread crumbed pieces and adding cream cheese in between the layers of cheese and sauce would be a little too much. But NO!!!!! I don’t think so, think I might have to try your secret ingredient. It sounds delicious!!
Then I started thinking about cream cheese in general and just how good it is by itself, or paired with practically anything. So I’m suggesting a blog on Cream Cheese. (even the name “cream cheese” is cute). 🙂