Mom's Favorites: Eat Your Veggies

Who among us got sick of hearing dear old Mom say "you have to eat all your vegetables." With my intense dislike of most all cooked vegetables growing up, this got to be an interesting adventure pretty quick.  I stuck with carrot and celery sticks and all things salad related. It was much safer.

In the meantime, sometime in my teens I discovered eggplant courtesy of the Chateau restaurant. Oh what I wouldn't give for some Chateau bread right now, but that's a whole different blog post! I ate eggplant parmesan by the truckload.  I had a friend tell me once while we were having a birthday lunch that I didn't have to eat it just because it was cheap. I laughed....I would take eggplant parm over chicken parm any day of the week!

So, here's a different spin on eggplant, still in the Italian family.

Eggplant Calabrese

Ingredients:
1 eggplant, peeled and cut into 1 in. pieces        1/2 tsp. salt                      1/3 c. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter          1 small onion, chopped        2 garlic cloves, minced    1 pkg mushrooms 
35 oz. can crushed tomatoes with basil              1 lb. bow tie pasta, cooked and drained
1 c. shredded mozzarella

Directions:

1. Place eggplant in a bowl and sprinkle with salt, stir to coat.
2. In a skillet, heat the oil and butter over medium heat.
3. Add onion and garlic and saute until lightly browned.
4. Add eggplant, mushrooms, salt and pepper.
5. Cook for 25 minutes, until tender.
6. Add crushed tomatoes - stir to combine and simmer for 20 minutes.
7. Pour eggplant mixture over pasta.
8. Sprinkle cheese on top.

A tasty treat with no meat! As always, have fun!