POLENTA AND PARMESAN EGGPLANT

Crunchy baked eggplant in a rich tomato sauce. Eggplant is best served straight from the oven while the exterior is super crunchy and interior is soft and fluffy. Serve with extra parmesan cheese, mozzarella and a green salad. 

I have partnered with the lovely team at Ceres Organics to come up with this quick and delicious dish. Their Quick Cook Polenta is available at all good supermarkets. 

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Eggplant
2 eggplants, sliced into 1.5cm thick pieces
1 cup Ceres Organics Quick Cook Polenta
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons basil, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil

Tomato Sauce
2 x 400g tins of cherry tomatoes, or regular tinned tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons caster sugar
Sea salt
Cracked pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons basil, chopped 

Mozzarella and fresh basil to serve 

METHOD

Heat oven to 190ºC and line a baking tray.

In a wide shallow dish, combine polenta, parmesan, dried oregano, basil and sea salt. 

In a bowl, whisk eggs. Dip eggplant slices into whisked eggs and then into polenta mixture. Make sure eggplant is completely coated, then place on baking tray. 

Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden, turn eggplant half way through baking. 

In a pot, combine all tomato sauce ingredients. Simmer for 20 minutes. 

Serve eggplant with tomato sauce, fresh basil leaves, mozzarella and finely grated parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.