When I think of a dish that was a culinary turning point for me, this recipe might be it. Like many of my dishes, this recipe was half inspired from a restaurant and half from my Mom’s kitchen, but original enough where a lightbulb went off and I started to think about food outside of the box. If you are like me, you are probably on the tireless path to recreating dishes that are not only nutricious and light, but TASTE GOOD. In other words – searching for the loop-hole to a low calorie, low-fat meal that you can also look forward to eating. While I love eggplant parm and lasagna, I often find the eggplant to be unappetizingly chewy, laden with heavy bread-crumbs and garnished with unwanted gobs of cheese. I wanted to create something that wasn’t so heavy and overwhelming as I found many eggplant dishes to be.
Eggplant can be a tempermental little vegetable. When cooked correctly it will make your taste-buds do cartwheels. When prepared poorly it is similar to munching on the end of my pencil eraser – bitter, soggy, chewy. Technically you are supposed to salt the eggplant to draw out some of the moisture. I don’t include that step in this recipe, but I promise it will make any finished-product eggplant delciously nutty and tender.
Instead I brush the eggplant generously with olive oil on both sides and sprinkle salt and pepper over ultra-thin slices. Peeling at least half of the skin away also gives the finished eggplant thins a crunchy finish.
After baking comes the fun part: stacking. I set up my toppings much like an ice-cream sundae line.
You can be as creative as you’d like with your stacking ingredients. I’ve found a layer of sauce, a small piece of paper-thin prosciutto and sprinkle of shredded mozzerella really does the trick.
Repeat and top with one last slice of eggplant and dusting of grated parmesean cheese and you have yourself a stacker.
Cracked Pepper 