Nik's Eggplant Parmesan Casserole

So I had all this stuff I had to use up. Isn’t that how the best dishes are made?

The challenge: to use up ¾ of an eggplant I had along with an entire roasted spaghetti squash. To be fair, I didn’t really have a great plan for either when I bought them. They both just looked so gorgeous, sitting there in the farmers market just waiting for me to buy them. I’m a sucker for a plump piece of produce, ya know?

Anyway, since neither eggplant nor spaghetti squash are on the elder daughters “approved veggies” list, I knew this dish would be completely vegetarian so that the younger daughter could eat it.

Thinking about it, the kid is pretty easy to please. Bless her, she loves anything I cook for her. But I kept having Eggplant Parmesan on the brain. I wondered if the concept could translate into a casserole.

I call this “casserolizing” – the art of taking something that has never been a casserole…and making a casserole out of it. Here’s how this one goes down.

Nik’s Eggplant Parmesan Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant, cubed (you can remove the skin if you don’t like it.)
• 1 small onion, cut into slivers
• 1 green pepper, cut any way you like it (I diced mine)
• The yield of one spaghetti squash (if you’re not sure how to cook it, click here)
• ½ c. diced tomatoes (I used fresh you can also used diced)
• Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, to taste
• 1 jar of light Alfredo sauce (which is what I used)
• 1 c. Italian-blend shredded cheese

ALTERNATIVE: I like the “Parm” part of Eggplant Parm best so that’s why I went with Alfredo sauce. If you are a purist, use a tomato-based sauce and top with cheese.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Spray your eggplant, onions and green pepper down with non-stick, season them however you like (I use salt, pepper and Italian seasoning) and put it onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Roast it about 25 minutes or so.

In a bowl, toss the roasted veggies with the spaghetti squash and tomatoes. Again, add seasoning if you like it as this is the best way to get flavor in there.

Add whatever sauce you are using and toss that until thoroughly mixed in.

Transfer to an small casserole dish (I used an 8x8) and top with cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and as brown as you like it.

This dish was a hit with the younger kid! I liked it too. The ONLY critique I have is that spaghetti squash is slightly sweet and it’s hard to play off of that. I usually allow myself to be a bit heavy handed with the salt for that reason. It didn’t make the dish bad, I just wish I had seasoned it better, which is why there are a few steps in the directions above so you can avoid that!

On Facebook I asked Foodies to vote for their favorite pic of the dish and the one at the top of the post is the one that is winning! Here are the others.

...I think I'm going to decide that, in general, close-up shots of casseroles generally are NOT a good thing! :)