Eggplant Parmigiana

This is what's currently trending in my kitchen. 
One night, my mother-in-law cooked it for dinner and ever since then my husband has been asking me to cook the same dish for him. I've cooked this probably 5 times the past 5 or 6 weeks. But each time I matched it with different sauces. Once with a simple white sauce, then with quick pesTomato sauce, then with gli spaghetti alla primavera sauce, and recycled lettuce-bell pepper salad turned into tomato red spaghetti sauce. My husband is not a fan of white sauces but all versions were successful. But I'd recommend basil pesto or pesTomato sauce-- basil really put wonders to simply delicious meal.

Ingredients (3-4 servings)

• eggplant, 390 g (about 3 medium-sized eggplants)
• bell pepper, 70g (about 2 1/2 pieces)
• canned tomato, 1 1/4 cup
• Parmesan cheese, 1 1/2 tsp
• quick-melt cheese
• ajinomoto, 1/2 tsp
• sugar, 1 1/4 tsp
• soysauce, 2 1/2 tsp
• black pepper
• Italian seasoning
• cooking oil

Procedure

1. Cut the eggplant into 1 cm-thick ovals. Cut the bell pepper into small cubes. 
2. On a pan over medium high heat, pour quite a generous amount of oil, enough to shallow fry the eggplant. Toss in the eggplant, sprinkle ajinomoto, black pepper and Italian seasoning. Mix well. Spread the eggplant over the pan to evenly cook all sides, mixing it from time to time to keep from burning. It took me 6-7 minutes to make it well done and browned but, but at 3 and a half minutes, all eggplant slices were cooked. Turn off fire and transfer the eggplants to a strainer or plate with paper towel to drain oil.
3. Using the same pan, stir-fry bell pepper for 30-60 seconds then add tomatoes, sugar, soy sauce, more black pepper and Italian seasoning. Let it simmer for 3 more minutes.
4. Add Parmesan cheese then mix well. Turn of fire.
5. Cover the bottom of a 750 mL gratin plate with eggplant. Then pour in half of the tomato sauce. If you want it cheesy, you may top this layer with cheese then toast it in the oven for about 4-5 minutes. If not, you can just cover the tomato sauce with another layer of eggplant, then pour over the remaining tomato sauce then cover the second layer with cheese. Toast it in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese is browned on some spots.
6. Serve hot on top of spaghetti or toasted bread!

L: This eggplant parmigiana is topped with fresh parsley and paired with white sauce (to put a lasagna-ish touch to the dish).

You may also top it with broccoli florets, fresh bell pepper, fresh basil, colorful juicy paprika-- almost anything that you fancy.

Next time i'll try making a crunchy version of eggplant parmigiana coated in breadcrumbs. ^_~ I just feel too lazy to deep fry things especially now that I've decided to decrease my use of cooking oil. But wait for it, I will surely conquer the tomato sauce world!

R: This is a plain eggplant parmigiana pasta. On its own, it's incomparable. Paired with other sauces, it will leave you speechless and your heart and stomach full but craving for more (just like my husband who requests this every week).