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

Vegan Capellini Pomodoro

Sadly, I have no good story to go along with tonight's recipe. I wanted pasta, I was in a hurry, and Ragu just wasn't going to cut it. End of story.

So without further nonsense and/or fanfare, I give you: Vegan Capellini Pomodoro

1 lb. angel hair pasta (or penne regate, or farfalle, or whatever the hell shape of pasta strikes your fancy)
1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 large roma tomatoes, diced
4 oz white or portabella mushrooms, sliced
1/4 large red bell pepper, diced
1 small red onion, sliced and quartered
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp olive oil
6 oz vegetarian vegetable broth (we've been over this before, but it bears repeating: not all "vegetable broth" is vegetarian. Those sneaky bastids will add chicken stock to make processing easier.)
2 oz white cooking wine (mine says "chablis". Your mileage may vary.)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried sage

Now...

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, run cool water over the pasta, and set aside.

Steam asparagus in a vegetable steamer or over a large pot of boiling water. Asparagus this time of year tends to be a bit tough (ok, you can fence with it) so give it a good 20-25 minutes of steaming time while you're going through the rest of the steps.

Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil in a medium saucepan for 1 minute. Add broth, white cooking wine, tomatoes, sage, oregano, and red bell pepper, cook on medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Add mushrooms, cook for an additional 2 minutes. Turn heat to low and cover. Let simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Add steamed asparagus to vegetable/broth mixture, let simmer for 2-3 minutes to allow flavors to combine.

Serve veggies over pasta.

Note: This recipe doesn't quite make my coveted "under 30 minutes" collection. I clocked the prep time tonight at 34 minutes. This might have been because I was tired/disorganized/drinking cheap beer. If you can do it in under 30, email me, and I'll take your word for it.

Recipe: Herbed Pasta Primavera

6 oz fresh asparagus
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, julienned or thinly sliced
6 oz fresh snow peas
1 small red onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped or thinly sliced
6 oz white button mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp fresh or 1 1/2 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp fresh 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp fresh or 1/2 tbsp dried sage
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tbsp ground cayenne pepper, or 1/4 tbsp black pepper
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup water

6 oz pasta (traditionally, spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccine, although any pasta will work)

1/3 cup shredded or grated parmesan cheese

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Tip from The Veggie Guy: I tend to like veggies a bit more tender when serving them over pasta, so I generally steam the asparagus, snow peas, carrots, and mushrooms in a vegetable steamer/rice cooker for 10 minutes while cooking the pasta. But if you like your veggies crisp, I'd advise against doing that.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Mix water and cornstarch in a small bowl and set aside.

Pour olive oil into wok or large skillet. Stir-fry garlic and onion for 15 seconds. Add asparagus, carrots, snow peas, red bell pepper and mushrooms. Add parsley, basil, oregano, sage, and whichever pepper you chose. Stir-fry for 3 minutes.

Stir and add water/cornstarch mixture to vegetables. Cook another 1-2 minutes. Serve over hot pasta, with parmesan sprinkled on top.

Vegan version: Substitute soy parmesan cheese, and check the pasta package for egg/milk ingredients. Most supermarket dried pastas are fine, but you never know, so always check. If you're really motivated, you can make your own pasta from scratch. I may try that myself right after I retire.

Enjoy!