Baked eggplant Parmigiana

Oh how I Love cheeeeese. who doesnt? My fiance admires how I bake lasagna - or atleast he acts like he does.lol- and I wanted to try something different. I've been thinking of what comfort food to make on a lazy day while watching movies at home except from the overused nachos. And so i thought of this food we ate at a resto in Timog. I first tasted this dish at Alba's -i don't know why they serve an italian dish in a spanish restaurant-or maybe it's a differnt dish. But it looks and tastes the same to me. Anyway, of all the dishes in that restaurant, that one really pleased me that I took time to reasearch on how to cook it. haha. I don't know the name of the dish by that time, and I all i remember was It was a delicious baked eggplant that has a taste similar to lasagna, or a lasagna with eggplant istead of pasta? haha. So i did my research and found about these- EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA, Sounds cool, and taste good! I am not sure if this is the same thing I ate at Alba's but this looks the same so I gave it a try,

Most eggplant parmigiana don't have meat. Just eggplants, some basils, others add spinach too. For my version, I added some ground beef to it.

1.Slice each eggplant about 1 inches thick. ADd some salt to each disk and let the eggplants sit for about 20 mins.

2. While waiting for the salt to remove the moisture from the eggplants. I made my tomato sauce. Just simply sautee the ground beef with onion, garlic and add the tomato sauce, let is simmer for about 10mins then add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Damp a paper towel to remove the excess water, then season each disk with salt and pepper then put it in the oven for about 20 mins, Often, they fry the egpplants before baking. I bake rather than fry mine for less mess and less fat?

 

4. Remove the eggplants from the oven. In a baking pan, place the eggplant slices evenly spaced apart. Over each slice, spread some tomato sauce. Place one slice of mozzarella over each and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon grated parmersan. Place slices of eggplant over each of the disks and repeat with tomato sauce and 2 cheeses. Repeat the layering again until all the ingredients are used. Sprinkle parsley on top(optional)

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 5. Bake uncovered until the cheese melts and the tops turn light brown, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.