Low Fat Eggplant Parmagian

Eggplant parmagian is one of my favorite dishes, but it's typically loaded with fat. I've spent the last couple of months working on a low fat eggplant parmagian, and I've finally come up with a version that is both tasty and healthy.

Like most of my successful creations, this dish came not from careful planning. Instead, it came from a lack of the correct ingredients. I'm really bad about "winging it" when I'm missing an item or two, and sometimes it works out great. (Sometimes it's a complete freakin' disaster, too, but that's beside the point.)

This version has just 275 calories and 8.5 grams of fat per serving... compare this to Olive Garden's lunch portion of eggplant parmagian, which weighs in at 793 calories and 39 grams of fat.

Add to that the fact that the low fat version is just as tasty (actually a lot better, I think), and I'm a very happy Veggie Guy.

I leave the skin on the eggplant. It gives the slices a slightly smoky flavor when they are baked directly on the oven rack. Feel free to remove the skin if you find this weird.

Oh yeah.. and if you haven't noticed, I use cayenne pepper in pretty much everything. You can omit this, but I think it gives it a distinctive Veggie Guy flair. (Don't worry, my wife thinks I'm delusional too.)

So here we go:

Low Fat Eggplant Parmagian

1 eggplant, sliced into 1/4" thick rounds (you don't have to take the skin off)
1/2 cup Veggie Shreds mozzarella style cheese
1 tsp vegan parmagian cheese, grated
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup marinara sauce or pizza sauce
1/4 tbsp dried sage
1/4 tbsp dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, ground
3 oz lemon juice
A few sprays of olive oil cooking spray

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place eggplant slices directly on the middle oven rack, bake for 6 minutes. Turn slices over, bake directly on rack for an additional 6 minutes.

Mix bread crumbs, parmagian cheese, sage, basil, and cayenne pepper in a flat bottomed dish (I use one of those entree-sized plastic storage containers).

Spray cooking spray on a 13 x 9 baking dish.

Coat eggplant slices with lemon juice. Dip in bread crumb mixture, covering both sides.

Place breaded eggplant slices in baking dish in a single layer. Pour marinara or pizza sauce over the slices and then sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.

Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 7 - 10 minutes or until cheese starts to bubble and brown.

I typically serve this with steamed asparagus and warm sourdough bread.

Note: This recipe fails my "30 minutes or less" test, but not by much. Most of it is baking time, though, so you can probably still get something else done while you're waiting.

Enjoy!

Lee, The Veggie Guy