Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Tasty Tuesday Eggplant Casserole!

One of my faves I've forgotten over the years is eggplant casserole. I loved it, but the kids didn't, so it sort of fell off the menu. But the kids are grown up now, and the other day, I was in the grocery and spotted the most beautiful, perfect eggplant I'd ever seen. I simply couldn't resist the temptation.
To refresh my memory, I checked out some online recipes and found one on Allrecipes.com that looked good. I made a few modifications, and thought it turned out rather well!

Hamburger Eggplant Casserole
1 eggplant, peeled and sliced
1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, and garlic powder mixture
1 1/2 lb hamburger, browned
2 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large skillet over medium heat, sprinkle hamburger with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder mixture, then saute it with the onion and garlic for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain excess fat. Stir in the tomato paste, water, tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, oregano and basil. Set aside.
  3. Slice eggplant into 1/4-inch rounds. Place a layer of eggplant in the bottom of a lightly greased 9x12-inch glass baking dish. Then place a layer of the hamburger mixture over the eggplant, followed by a layer of sliced onion. Top this with 1/2 the breadcrumbs and cheese. Then repeat the layers: eggplant, hamburger mixture, sliced onion and remaining breadcrumbs and cheese.
  4. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour, remove foil and bake for 20 more minutes.

15 comments:

  1. Lucky his compass is pointing due north, he'll never get lost.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dude's got his own eggplant going on:) YOWSA!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OH WOW! Would it be wrong for me to say that he can come lounge in my cockpit whenever he likes.

    LOL @Mary G and Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice. Very, very nice!

    HUGE thanks to all the Yah-Yahs!! Locked In cracked the bestsellers' list at Siren! (Barely, but hey... I'm thrilled!!)
    ****hugs*****

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tasty! VERY TASTY! This is your Captain Speaking"Would all you Yahs-Yahs come to the Cockpit" I've a major problem here. My Eggplant needs immediate attention before I can land this plane. AY AY Captain!
    My Mom always made a varation of this. I need to copy it for my Dad. My Hubs is not a fan of Eggplant. I might be able to cover it in enough sauce. Do you think?
    W/V is SHEElanc can we do it to him?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeah. That guy is enough to make anyone forget all about fixing dinner....

    Huge congrats, ER! Let me take this opportunity to say...
    NANA NANA BOO BOO!!!TOLD YA, TOLD YA, TOLD YA!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. My DH isn't a big eggplant fan, either, Donna. But he liked this recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yay, Elizabeth Raines!! Siren's bestsller list! Fantastic!! I'm not one bit surprised--all the others will kick major butt too, I'm sure! I feel so special 'cause I got to critique these books--yes, yes, I'm basking in your reflected glory! Great job!

    Nice...I agree with ER...very nice...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Permission granted to come aboard :D

    Great recipe, Cheryl. I love eggplant.

    ER--I'm adding one more I TOLD YOU SO!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yep. I admit, when I've shopped for eggplant, I put the bulb part in my left palm and check the firmness of the length with my right hand, all while pointing the top end close to my face.

    Ryan is on a steady diet of pineapple and smoothies!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ooh! That reminds me... Must buy another pineapple....

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow! Great hunk today! Perfect!

    I like eggplant, but my family isn't big on it. My hubby will eat it if I make an eggplant parmesan, but he'd rather not, so I don't make it often. I grew up eating Japanese eggplant which is shaped more like a cucumber but still has that beautiful purple color. She'd bread it and fry it. And we all know how tasty anything fried is. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oops! I meant butternut squash, not eggplant.

    How embarrassing...

    ReplyDelete
  14. @Lisa: glad you got the book! Enjoy! Enjoy! Then mail to Noelle, she's next on the list.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Y'all are just loving rubbing my nose in it, aren't you??? lol I'm thrilled you get to say "I told you so" to me!!

    ReplyDelete