Eggplant Parmesan (Updated!)

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

1 eggplant
1-2 eggs
breadcrumbs
~3 cups hothouse spaghetti sauce
grated mozzarella cheese
thinly-sliced deli-style pepper jack (5-10 slices)
parmesan cheese (fresh-grated from the block is best)
pepper


Instructions

Cook or defrost spaghetti sauce (see link above), set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Wash the eggplant and cut into ten equally-sized coins (about 1/2 inch thick).

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk. Sprinkle breadcrumbs with a dash of pepper and grated parmesan into a bowl. Dip the eggplant slices in the whipped eggs and coat in the breadcrumbs.

Line a lightly-oiled baking sheet with the breaded eggplant slices and bake for ~20 minutes.

Warm up the sauce (not too hot!) and put a thin layer on the bottom of a small square glass baking dish. Layer with the five largest eggplant segments. Top each with a slice of pepper jack and a sprinkle of mozzerella cheese, followed by a generous amount of sauce and a smaller piece of eggplant. Add a slice of pepper jack to the second tier, cover generously with sauce and sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake at 350 uncovered for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with parmesan and black pepper and serve.


*notes*
-serve with a small dish of freshly-grated parmesan
-go easy on the mozzarella for a healthier dish
-always use freshly-grated parmesan. the hunks of cheese keep well in the fridge
-goes well with a side of pasta w/ sauce (use remaining spaghetti sauce or try primavera alfredo over linguini) and a salad
-recipe is easily doubled
-this recipe replaces the one that suggested frying the eggplant (both difficult and less-healthy), and, after an recent taste-test, was cited as a significant improvement by the official scaughey recipe advisory board