May 12, 2016
Vegan Eggplant Parmesan
First of all, congrats to Stephen Curry on his second straight, unanimous MVP award! Also, congrats to the Warriors for beating the Trailblazers and advancing to the Western Conference Finals!!! I swear, that team makes Ashlee cry with tears of joy (seriously) every time she watches them.
Onto the food!!!
Do you remember when I said that pasta is one of my absolute favorite dishes??? I wasn’t kidding. Last night, I ate THREE plates of this stuff. I’m not talking about kiddy sized plates…I’m talking about disgusting, build your plate sky-high at the buffet type plate. The amount of pasta I can scarf down is kind of like a magic trick. My stomach literally becomes a botomless pit.
I’m not just saying this recipe is absolutely spectacular because it’s mine, I’m saying it because it really is. Even Ashlee helped herself to a couple plates, and she eats like a damn bird. Seriously, when we first started dating, we would go out to eat and she’d always want to share a plate.
Share a plate?! With me?!
Was she fucking insane?! 
Ok, back to the eggplant parmesan. Actually, there is no vegan parmesan in this recipe. If I’m being honest right now, nutritional yeast tastes like I would imagine fish food to taste. I know all you fellow vegans out there are cursing my name, but Ashlee and I cannot stand the stuff so we set out to make this dish sans nutritional yeast.
Instead, we used Follow Your Heart Mozzarella Shreds in the breading mix and I followed Somer McCowan’s Moxarella Cheese Recipe to spread all over these delicious morsels. This recipe is easy, quick and so good. It’s meaty, spicy, savory, and comforting. It’s the perfect dish to make for date night or to bring over to a dinner party. Pasta is great for left overs, so all you busy bees can make a huge batch and eat it throughout the week. I like to keep my noodles and sauce separate to avoid sogginess and you can bake the eggplant leftovers…they’ll taste like you just pulled them out of the fryer.
If you try this dish, let us know! We love comments and feel free to rate it as well! Don’t forget to tag #EatFigsNotPigs! We would absolutely love to see your versions of this recipe. Til next time, guys!!!
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 serrano pepper with seeds, diced
- 1 jalapeno, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, diced
- ½ green bell pepper, diced
- ½ cup basil, roughly chopped
- 1 - 28 oz can San Marzano tomatoes, juices reserved
- 2 cups organic tomato sauce
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tbs tomato paste
- 1 tbs italian seasoning
- ⅓ cup organic, vegan sugar
- ¼ cup red pepper flakes
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 package organic spaghetti noodles
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tbs Kosher salt
- Medium eggplant
- 1 tbs cornstarch
- 1.5 cups panko bread crumbs
- ½ cup Follow Your Heart Mozzarella Shreds
- 1 cup self rising flour
- 1 cup unsweetened original Almond Milk
- 1 tbs italian seasoning
- 2 tbs red pepper flakes
- 2 heaping tbs tapioca starch
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 tsp grapeseed oil
- 1.5 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- Peanut oil for frying
- In a big mixing bowl, add San Marzano tomatoes and break up with hand. Set aside with reserved juices.
- To a large pot, add olive oil over medium high heat
- Add onions, garlic, and all peppers
- Cook until onions become translucent and fragrant, about 5-7 minutes
- Add crushed tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, paste, and vegetable stock
- Stir until ingredients are combined
- Next, add sugar, italian spices, red pepper flakes and basil
- Turn heat to high and bring to a boil
- Once boiling, cover sauce, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-45 minutes
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Blend all ingredients together until completely smooth, about 3 minutes or so
- Pour liquid into a small saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly
- The sauce will begin to thicken and bubble
- Turn heat to low and continue to stir until sauce thickens and looks like a huge glob of melted cheese, about 5 minutes.
- Set aside to cool.
- While your sauce is simmering, slice your eggplant in ½ to ¾ inch rounds.
- Lay on a flat surface and sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt.
- Let sit for about 15 minutes (by doing this, you'll pull out the bitterness sometimes associated with eggplant)
- After 15 minutes, wash eggplants in a colander with water and place eggplant rounds on a flat surface lined with paper towels
- Place another set of paper towels atop eggplant and press gently to dry
- For the breading, you'll need three bowls
- In one bowl, add Almond Milk
- In another, add flour & cornstarch and mix until well combined
- In your third bowl, combine bread crumbs, italian seasoning, mozzarella shreds, one teaspoon salt & pepper, and red pepper flakes
- Once your bowl stations are prepped, you're ready to start assembling your eggplant parm!
- Dip your eggplant rounds in almond milk, then flour mixture, then almond milk again, then breadcrumb mixture.
- Set aside.
- After all rounds are coated, fry on medium-high heat (365-375 degrees) for about 5 minutes per side. Top with marinara, moxxarella, basil and serve with spaghetti noodles.
- Enjoy!
