Summer eggplant parmesan casserole of eggplant slices coated in pesto and cheeses, layered with tomato sauce lasagna-style for easy serving.
Eggplant hasn't always been in my grocery basket. And I won't wax eloquent on all the ways I enjoy eggplant. But eggplant and I formed a close friendship over this Baked Eggplant Parmesan Casserole. I've served it to friends who later confessed they were a little horrified eggplant was on my party dinner menu, but when they tried it, they begged for the recipe. And if you're wondering, yes, this is the same as Eggplant Parmegiana Casserole.
The inspiration came, as it often does, from a restaurant. A group of us at a food writing conference went to dinner one night, and a baked eggplant parmesan casserole served with pesto was the only vegetarian option on the menu. At that point of my eating life, I was pretty much 100% vegetarian. So I ended up ordering it, but lacked much enthusiasm over the whole thing. But when my meal arrived, I was the envy of the table. Seriously. And I ate every bite. Seriously.
When I returned back to my own kitchen, I had to try to duplicate it. I love pesto (don't you too?), so I made it a key ingredient in the dredging liquid for the eggplant slices. And I added black olives. The intense umami salty flavor of kalamata olives is a perfect foil for the other flavors. But don't overdo it.
Whether to Salt and Drain Eggplant
In many dishes, eggplant is best salted and drained for a couple of hours to remove some liquid and temper its bitterness. I've made this casserole both ways, and it didn't make any difference at all. This is probably due to 2 reasons: (1) there are a lot of flavors going on in this dish to balance out any bitterness; and (2) the breading seals in the moisture. However, if you're interested in how to salt and drain eggplant, this is a good post to review.
Baked Eggplant Parmesan Casserole is a perfect dish to take advantage of fresh produce from your local farmer's market. Eggplant, tomatoes, basil are all at peak flavors right now, and easily found. Best of all, you can make all the components in advance, and package them up into the refrigerator. Then just assemble and slide it into the oven when you're ready for dinner, and serve it with garlic bread and a big salad.
Even Carnivorous Maximus eats this without any meat in sight, and doesn't miss it. (Gasp.)
Tips for Making Eggplant Parmesan Casseroles
The Chunky Roasted Tomato Sauce can be made a week ahead and stored in the refrigerator. In fact I like to always have some of this sauce around for quick pasta dinners with some chickpeas. But if you want to go super-easy, feel free to use your favorite jarred pasta sauce.
Another tomato sauce I like to use, which is easier, is this Meaty Roasted Tomato Sauce. While tomatoes are in peak season, make double and triple batches and freeze for the winter when tomatoes are not at their best.
Use a combination of Beefsteak and Roma tomatoes, particularly this time of year. The Roma tomatoes add a rich, meaty texture to the juicy Beefsteak variety.
Stack the eggplant slices on top of each other when assembling this lasagna-style casserole. This makes it easier to serve and creates natural serving sizes for a crowd.
Fontina cheese makes a fabulous substitute for mozzarella cheese if you have some on hand. But don't feel like you need to grate it up. I've laid thin sheets of it in the layers and it's worked beautifully!
Baked Eggplant Parmesan Casserole with Pesto
Ingredients
Chunky Roasted Tomato Sauce
- 3 pounds Beefsteak tomatoes
- 1 pound Roma tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 2 sweet red bell peppers, sliced into large pieces
- 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Eggplant Pesto Parmesan
- 1 1/2 eggplant about 1 pound each
- 3 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons Basil Pesto
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornflour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
Chunky Roasted Tomato Sauce
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the tomatoes in half and arrange on the baking sheet, cut side facing up. Drizzle with olive oil, and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for one hour.
- Toss the garlic cloves in olive oil and add to the baking sheet. Add the red pepper slices. Roast for another 30 minutes.
- Cool, slip the peels from the tomatoes and garlic, and coarsely chop the peppers. Combine with the remaining sauce ingredients in a medium bowl, crushing the roasted tomatoes with your hands.
Eggplant Pesto Parmesan
- Arrange three small bowls on a work space and slice the eggplant into 1/2-inch rounds. Whisk the eggs together with the pesto in the first bowl. Stir together the flours, salt and pepper in the second bowl. Combine half of the cheeses, breadcrumbs and oregano in the third.
- Heat a griddle over medium heat, and lightly oil the pan.
- Dip an eggplant slice into the flour, followed by the egg-pesto mixture, and finally the cheeses. Place on the griddle. Repeat with enough eggplant to fill the griddle (I can fit around 8 slices of various sizes on mine). Cook for 5 minutes per side, until the eggplant surfaces are lightly browned. Stack and repeat with the remaining eggplant. For a 8 1/2" X 12" baking pan, I typically use 16 slices.
- Make Ahead Tip: At this point, the tomato sauce can be poured into a jar and the eggplant parmesan carefully stacked in ziplock baggies. Tuck into the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Arrange the eggplant, tomato sauce and remaining cheese in layers as in a lasagna, spreading a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of a 8 1/2" X 12" or 9" X 13" baking pan. Next arrange a layer of eggplant parmesan slices and sprinkle with 1/3 of the remaining cheese. Repeat the order, starting with half of the remaining tomato sauce, a final layer of eggplant slices, half of the remaining cheese, and the remaining tomato sauce.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Add the remaining cheese on top and bake another 15 minutes.
- Cool slightly before serving.
apuginthekitchen says
Delicious recipe Susan and I love your Farmers Market blogging group, we should do that here in NYC. Everything you said is so true, most of us have never met face to face but we know more about each others lives, families, tastes, etc,,.. than possibly people they have met. We are a close knit group and I truly love sharing and meeting (virtually) others of like mind.
Your eggplant parmigiano is wonderful. BTW, I am enjoying your hubby’s blog also.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
You should definitely do this in NYC!! You have such a wonderful group and such active farmer’s markets, it would be perfect!! And I’m so happy you’re reading Myles’ blog !!!! 🙂 Makes me very, very happy.
Rebecca says
Oh. My. Just bought tomatoes for canning today and am getting ready for my Moussaka extravaganza. Think I may have to add this one in, too! Will report on how it tastes with that wonderful farmers’ market pesto. 🙂
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Yes, yes, yes!! I’d love to hear about your Moussaka extravaganza too 🙂 All our tomatoes are still green, or just in the flowering stage in our back yard. But in another month, I’ll be canning tomatoes too!!
Jane, The Heritage Cook says
Oh Susan, you are talking The Artist’s language with this dish. He is tugging on my arm begging me to make it for him, LOL! This is a total winner and absolutely beautiful!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thank you so much Jane!!! Even Carnivorous Maximus really liked it!!
Choc Chip Uru says
You are making me rethink any diet I have ever taken, this cheesy goodness of a casserole looks absolutely delicious! 😀
I’ll keep telling myself that the eggplant will keep me healthy!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Eggplant definitely makes this healthy. And actually I’m glad you mentioned this. I need to insert the fat, carbs, calories, etc in the recipe. I’m trying to do that now, and keep forgetting when I’m in the final rush to get a post scheduled 🙂
Erika says
Uh YUM. I love so much about this post.
1) Bay Area farmer’s market potluck group sounds like SO MUCH FUN!!! I would probably eat wayyyy more than my fair share if you brought this to a potluck where I was present 😉
2) These photos are gorgeous–they look straight out of CookingLight or something to me!
3) if your husband ate this happily, that gives me so much hope for getting Erik to love this–can’t wait to try making it for him!
4) Do you have any suggestions for what to do with a load of fresh basil? You’re one of the recipe creators I look up to, so thought I’d ask 🙂 I’m going to make pesto and probably bruschetta, but other than that, I’m racking my brain to think of really summery dishes that use basil!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Wish you were still here in the Bay Area – you would love this group!!! And thanks so much for your comment on the photos. You’re someone I really look up to for photography!! So basil. Pesto is always good as you know. If you have a ton, you could make basil oil with it too. I love having herbed oils around for vinaigrettes in the summer. And it makes a great gift. You can also dry some for fresh dried basil. I have a heap of oregano and that’s what I’m doing with it. Then I got some cute little jars and I’m giving it away to friends as a little gift when we get together for dinners.
Erika says
Oh yes!! Basil oil sounds so great–thanks!! 🙂
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
You’re so welcome!! Enjoy!
Jennie Schacht says
Looks great! I have a meat lover at home whom I’m quite certain would be perfectly satisfied by your meatless masterpiece!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Myles was surprisingly accommodating when I advised him there wouldn’t be any meat for him when I served this for dinner last week. And he went back for seconds – which never happens with a vegetarian dish.
Jennifer @ Peanut Butter and Peppers says
Oh my gosh your lasagna looks out of this world! It is just beautiful!! I love all of the flavors you have in the dish!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks so much Jennifer!!
Beth (OMG! Yummy) says
What a lovely recipe Susan. I adore eggplant parmesan and appreciate all of your tips and tricks such as making the sauce ahead of time. Those kind of suggestions make attacking this kind of dish so approachable for anyone who is time-challenged or experience-challenged.
Great to meet you through this virtual dinner party and look forward to a real meet-up sometime soon and our next online gathering as well.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Thanks so much Beth! So nice to meet you too – I hope we do this again, and have an opportunity to meet sometime!!
Maureen says
I love eggplant and this casserole would suit me perfectly!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
I’ve come to like eggplant later in life, but it’s become a real favorite of mine now!
cheri says
HI Susan, does this mean you are in San Francisco? love that place. Looks like you keeping pretty busy. Anyway this casserole looks delicious, very clever to add pesto sauce.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Yes, we live about 15 minutes outside SF. Close enough to get in pretty quickly, far enough away to be out of city chaos :-). Then we have a condo in Tahoe where we try to spend 1 week a month when we really want to escape.
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says
Susan, this is similar to the way I make eggplant parm, but the pesto and kalamata olives you use would definitely kick it up a notch! Will give it a try next time!
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
The kalamata olive in particular kick it up for me!
Robin Gagnon says
This looks so much better than the grilled eggplant I made last night for dinner.
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
Well there’s all that cheese, after all 🙂 But grilled eggplant is so good in salads!!! I do a panzanella with grilled eggplant and fresh tomatoes and it’s so, so good 🙂
The Wimpy Vegetarian says
BTW – love your blog! I just went over to visit, and tried to leave a comment on your watercolor smoothie. I totally want to make it!!! By tap influence wouldn’t let me post the comment. I couldn’t figure out how to get it through them. Sorry!!