Revamped Eggplant Parmesan

This past weekend, I decided to re-invent my eggplant parm recipe.   I liked the original but I wanted the coating to be more firm and hold up better to being immersed in sauce.  So I did some googling and exposed myself to other methodologies to give me some new ideas.  I let the ideas meld and weld, and then Bam! I was able to come up with this.  More flavorful, for sure, and crusty coating, bingo! So, let's do this:

What you will need:

A jar/can of marinara sauce ( I bought mine from Trader Joe's)
1 tbsp of Italian seasoning
1 eggplant
1 cup of cashews
juice of one lemon
1 -1 and 1/2 cups water
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 red bell pepper

Seasoned soymilk
1 cup of plain soymilk
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp sea salt

Heat sauce on the stove until steaming.  I like to infuse my sauces even more if I think it needs it so I added 2 cloves of garlic, garlic powder and a little more Italian seasoning.  The sauce you buy may be good as gold, so this may not be necessary.  I'm just obsessed with garlic.

Meanwhile, blend cashews, water, lemon, nutritional yeast, salt and red bell pepper until smooth.   

Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Spread them out evenly and sprinkle with salt.  Leave for 10 mins.  This will allow the eggplant to sweat a little bit and make room to take up the seasoned soymilk.

Mix all the ingredients for the seasoned soymilk.  You will coat the eggplant in this mixture for 2 mins, flipping the eggplant over after each minute and letting it soak up the soymilk.  Cover the eggplant slice in breadcrumbs until eggplant is coated on both sides.  Dust off extra breadcrumbs.

 Place coated eggplant on a baking tray and bake for 35 mins, 30 mins at 350 degrees then 5 mins at 400 degrees.

Once eggpplant is cooked, place in baking dish, cover with marinara sauce.  Pour the cheese sauce on top.  Bake in the oven at 400 for 5 mins or until cheese sauce on top thickens and darkens.

It almost looks like cheese, doesn't it?  Craziness.

Serve with whole wheat or any other grain pasta.  The Garden in a Bowl salad goes great with this.

*Eggplant is a delicate vegetable, so you don't want to overcook it. This is why I am keeping it to 35 mins max.  If you cook it too much, it will become a bit rubbery. It will still taste great but texture won't be as wonderful as it could be.

Time to eat!

Grubbing!

Now, I'm happy. 

Enjoy! 

Thank you for reading!  My people, I appreciate you all so much.  Be healthy and happy.  Ciao!