I don't know what's wrong with me, but ever since our move to Massachusetts I've been cooking up a storm. I must have a fever because that isn't the norm the last few years. We've been living in a cute little apartment, so I have more time on my hands with a smaller home and no yard work. I guess that's where this spurt of culinary creativity has come from. In any case tonight I made an Eggplant and Butternut Squash Parmesan. I was luscious and so easy to make. It takes about a half an hour to prepare this and 45 minutes for it to cook. It was delicious, so I thought I'd write down the recipe for future reference. Here it is...
Eggplant, small to medium in size
1/2 small butternut squash
3 - 4 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp. milk
Italian bread crumbs
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
2 - Classico l lb. 8 oz. jars pasta sauce
8 oz. mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
{You can choose to use two 8"x8" pans or one 9"x13".}
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
It's best to buy an eggplant on the smallish size because older, bigger eggplants can be bitter. If you have a large eggplant, you might want to follow
these instructions before cooking it.
Peel your eggplant and dice it into one inch cubes. Salt and pepper. Combine 3 eggs and 1 tablespoon milk in a shallow dish. Put bread crumbs onto another shallow dish. Dip eggplant in egg mixture; dredge in bread crumbs. Brown the dredged eggplant in a little olive oil in a frying pan. Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and add the cooked eggplant to the pan.
Peel and dice the butternut squash into one inch cubes and cook in microwave about seven minutes. Drain. Salt and pepper. Put squash in egg mixture and dredge in bread crumbs. Lightly cook the squash in an oiled frying pan till brown. Place squash over the eggplant in the 9x13 pan.
Cook the Italian sausage in the frying pan and place on top of eggplant and squash in pan.
I usually make my own pasta sauce, but this time I used a couple of jars of pasta sauce to save time. When I do use store bought, I love the Classico brand. I usually choose two jars, most often differing flavors of red sauce, and mix the two jars together. Poor those over the ingredients in the pan.
Grate the mozzarella cheese and sprinkle over the top of the pasta sauce. Sprinkle a little grated Parmesan cheese over the mozzarella.
Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.
There you have it. It tasted so good. The butternut squash and sausage toned down some of the acidity in the sauce to make a perfect combination of flavors! I paired this with a tossed green salad and it was the perfect meal!
