Eggplant And Zucchini Parmesan

Eggplant and Zucchini Parmesan is an upgrade from your traditional Eggplant Parmesan with the addition of, what else?... Zucchini!

*Disclaimer - This recipe was originally published in 2013. I'm working hard to update all my older recipes with recipe cards, new photos, and additional recipe information. But, getting to all of them will take time. Please bear with me. In the meantime let me assure you that this recipe is still a winner and one I'm sure you'll be well pleased with when you make it at home.

We grew some absolutely gorgeous eggplants this year in our garden.

We'd never had luck with them in past years (they were always puny and the plants never produced more than one) but this year we decided to try them again and were completely blown away with what we were finally able to produce.

Naturally, eggplant Parmesan was the first on the list of recipes I wanted to make so I decided to also add some zucchini to the recipe.

Lucky for us, growing zucchini has never been an issue, and truth be told, I'm fairly sick of it at this point. Haha.

I tried to keep this recipe as light and healthy as possible so I used some wheat germ with my panko crumbs for the coating, and I also substituted mostly egg whites for the whole eggs (I did use one whole egg) in the coating process.

The result was light and tasty with a slight crunch from the coating of panko and wheat germ. YUMMY!

You can serve this as a main course or side dish. Your call.

The night I made it, I served it as a meatless main course and served it alongside a healthy green salad (much to my husband's chagrin. Poor guy!)

EGGPLANT AND ZUCCHINI PARMESAN     {PRINT THIS RECIPE}

Serves: 4-6 (as a main course)  8-10 (as a side dish)
Prep time:   approximately 15 minutes
Bake time: 40 minutes

1 ½ cup wheat germ
1 ½ cup panko crumbs
1 teaspoon salt (plus additional for salting the eggplant)
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 egg
1 cup egg whites
1 large eggplant
1 large zucchini
olive oil spray
1 ½ cups canned tomato puree
¼ - ½ cup Parmesan cheese

-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
-Slice the eggplant into ½" rounds and place them flat on a baking sheet.
-Sprinkle each eggplant round with a light sprinkling of salt and allow them to sit for a few minutes while you prepare the zucchini rounds and get your breading ingredients together.
-Slice the zucchini into ½" rounds and set them aside.
-In a large shallow dish, combine the wheat germ, panko crumbs, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
-In a second large shallow dish, whisk together the egg and egg whites.
-Using a paper towel, dab off the moisture from the eggplant slices that the salting produced. This salting step takes out some of the bitterness from the eggplant and also helps to release some of the water retained in the eggplant for a crispier coating.
-Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
-Alternating from eggplant to zucchini rounds, dip each slice into the egg mixture (turning to coat both sides) and then place each slice into the coating mixture, making sure to press the crumbs firmly onto each round (turning to coat both sides).
-Place the coated rounds into a single layer in the prepared pan, alternating between eggplant and zucchini.
-Once all the slices are in place, lightly spray the slices with the olive oil spray.
-Spoon the tomato puree evenly down the middle of the slices in two long lines.
-Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the tomato puree.
-Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
-Uncover the dish and continue baking for an additional 20 minutes so the coating crisps and so the Parmesan cheese browns nicely.
-You are now ready to dig in, but don't forget to pour the wine first... 🙂

It is now time to pour a little vino and turn on some tunes so you can completely enjoy your dinner in style!