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.