I entered my very first recipe contest with this eggplant sandwich…and I lost. Or should I say I didn’t win?! I’m glad I did it, because now I’m motivated to enter other contests, for the shear fun of it! It’s great, because it gets my creative juices going and quenches my competitive spirit. For example, I love eggplant and I love eggplant sandwiches, but I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to think about the layers of flavor in this sandwich. So it didn’t win $25,000 – but it is one good sandwich in my humble opinion! A couple of my son Justin’s friends loved it and said they didn’t even like eggplant! So if you’re feeling like a delicious and comforting hot sandwich, you might want to try this one – it’s so easy. As far as winning recipe contests – maybe next time!
Eggplant "Parmenade" Sandwich
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons kalamata olives
- 4 teaspoons green olives
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 2 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 cups cornflake crumbs
- 1 cup all purpose flower
- 3 eggs whisked with 1 tbls water
- 1-2 purple globe eggplants
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons Pecorino Romano Cheese or favorite hard, salty Italian cheese, grated 4 Ciabatta Rolls, sliced in half
- 4 hard boiled eggs peeled and sliced
- 1 cup prepared marinara sauce
- 4 tablespoons mozzarella cheese shredded
- 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes finely chopped
- 12 Mezzetta Sweet Cherry Peppers stemmed and sliced
- cracked black pepper to taste
- 4-6 fresh basil leaves thinly sliced chiffonade
Instructions
- Place oven rack in top rung in oven and preheat oven to “broil.”
- Prepare tapenade: Mix Mezzetta Capers, Kalamata Olives with a tsp olive oil in mini food processor until finely chopped. Set aside.
- Place cornflake crumbs, flour, egg wash all in separate shallow bowls.
- Cut eggplant in ½ inch round slices and lightly salt each piece.
- Cover bottom of large fry pan with oil and heat to medium.
- Coat each eggplant piece in flour first, then egg wash, and finally press into cornflake crumbs until coated evenly.
- Place coated slices in pan (once oil is ready) and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove from pan, place on dry paper towels, and sprinkle tops with grated grated Romano cheese. Set aside.
- Place Ciabatta Rolls on cookie sheet, and lightly toast both sides in broiler. Remove.
- On bottom half, assemble in this order: spread tapenade to cover completely, arrange sliced eggs, drizzle marinara sauce, place corn-flake crusted eggplant slice, spoon on marinara sauce, and then top with mozzarella cheese.
- Return to broiler until heated and cheese is melting. Renove and place on bottom half of roll.
- Spread top roll with sun-dried tomato paste.
- Plate and top bottom half with cherry peppers, cracked black pepper and garnish with basil. Cover with top bun.
Looks like a winning sandwich to me. I'd like to eat more eggplant, I'll have to give this a try.
Jodi, Your a winner in my eye's! The way I see it, you did win, it gave you inspiration!
O yes, that sandwich I have to try one day ~ Creative ~