when i'm dying for something italian (pasta-y), i make this - eggplant has a bit of a pasta flavour. i've fed this to people who claim to hate eggplant, and they love this.

you really can tailor it for your needs or add meat, mushrooms, etc to it. it's a good base dish. here's how i like it:

2 medium eggplants, skinned & sliced), sautee in olive oil till light brown - DO NOT BREAD! (i've always thought this kills the flavour of the veg anyway)

mozz cheese, parm cheese, a bit of garlic salt

bout an 8 oz can of tomato sauce (i've found the cheapest has the lowest carb count - my fav. brand has 3 carbs per 1/4 cup)

in a casserole dish, layer the eggplant, just enough sauce to lightly cover the eggplant, a layer of cheese & a bit of salt - keep going till you run out of something!

i've layered seasoned ground beef & sauteed portabellas in this too.

hmmm wonder what it would tase like with a cream / alphredo type sauce???

This sounds yummy, think I'll try to make it. Perhaps a rocotta layer with a layer of spinach. Mmmm, that'd definatly please the Italian cravings.

Ok, I made something like this for lunch today and it was marvelous!!!

Here's is my variation.

1 small eggplant
1/2 pd ground beef (Italian saus would be perfect didnt have any)
6 oz tomato sauce
7 oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozerella
1/4 cup parmesean
1 egg
Veg oil
Italian seasoning(mine comes premixed)
Garlic powder
Salt

Okay, I slived the eggplant I'd say into 1/4 in pieces. Then laid them out on a tray, salted and sprinkled garlic powder on them while the oil got hot the in frying pan. Then I fried them till they were golden brown, a little crispy even. I like em this way, you can fry them just a little or a lot. Drained them on paper towels. Then I fried my ground beef with a little garlic and Italian seasoning, drained. While it was frying...
I mixed up the ricotta, parmesean, egg and about 1 tbsp of the Italian seasoning and set it aside.
I used a pie dish as it looked like it'd be the perfect size and it was. Pour in half the tomato sauce to cover bottom, layer the eggplant on that, then a light mozerella layer, ground beef next. I think put on the entire amount of ricotta mixture. Finished it off with the rest of the eggplant, rest of the tom sauce, then topped with rest of the mozerella. Baked in a 400 oven for 17 mins. I just watched till it was nice and brown and bubbling.

It was SOOOOO yummy!
And it didn't take much to fill me up. So low in carbs and lasts a while. A new reg I'm sure for me.

i actually like my eggplant browned and crispy too. it makes a great pasta substitue.

a friend gave me a tip to prevent it from absorbing so much oil but i've yet to try it - after slicing, cover the pieces in natural sea salt and let them sit on a paper towel for 20 min. then rinse. she says they 'sweat all the junk' out of them and make them easier to cook.

i always cook them with olive oil, gives it a nice taste.

My wife and I tried an eggplant parmesan using a can of white clam sauce from the store, and it was to die for!

sounds good.

I'm going to try this, we have a few eggplants from the garden!