Easy Eggplant Parm

Preheat your oven to 425ºF.

Heat up a jar of marinara sauce (or any sauce) on the stove so it’s warmed through. You could make your own sauce (please see my related blog post for a quick marinara recipe).

Cut the eggplant into round pieces about 1/2-inch in thickness. Put them into a bowl and sprinkle the salt on top. Let it sit for 15 minutes. This will help release the moisture in the eggplant. Once that’s done, rinse them under cold water to wash off the salt and pat them dry.

Start heating up olive oil in a large deep, wide skillet. You want enough oil so it’s about 3/4 inch deep.

Create your dredging stations: 1 plate of flour, 1 plate of bread crumbs (I added the oregano and pepper flakes to it and tossed them), and a shallow bowl with the eggs and water, beaten.

Optional: you could spread the bread crumbs on a cookie sheet and bake them for 5-8 minutes to get them toasty and golden brown before you make this dish.

Take an eggplant round, place in the flour, then in the egg, then in the bread crumbs and set aside until the oil is hot. Keep doing this until all of your eggplant is prepared.

Add 2-3 rounds at a time to the hot oil and let it cook for 4-5 minutes on each side so they are golden brown. Place them on a plate lined with paper towel to help drain excess oil.

In a 9 x 13 glass baking dish, pour the sauce into the dish. Then place each eggplant round into the dish so they’re nestled into the sauce.

Put a piece of provolone cheese on top of each eggplant round and sprinkle the Parmesan all over the top.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown and ooey-gooey.

Enjoy!