Robert Ebsen

The eggplant parmigiana at the Olive Garden is one of my favorite dishes.  Oh, how I have wished I could make that dish at home.

Now that my wife left to visit her relatives for a couple of weeks, I decided I could mess up the kitchen as much as I want this evening.  What I really wanted to cook is delicious eggplant. I didn’t expect my concoction to come close to my favorite Olive Garden dish, but I a didn’t expect it to be so hard and tasteless. It wasn’t cooking that eggplant that brought me to write this essay tonight. It was what happened just a few minutes ago while browsing the internet.

I took a chance: I Googled Olive Garden eggplant parmigiana recipe. It worked! I found what appears to be a wonderful copycat recipe that, if it works, will put me into Olive Garden heaven.

Here’s the recipe:

(1) Preheat oven to 350.  (2) Peel 1 large eggplant. Place ½-in. slices in a colander over a bowl.  (3) Mix 1 egg, 3 cups milk, and 2 tsp. olive oil and place in a bowl. (4) Mix 1 cup bread crumbs and ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese in another bowl.  (5) Dip each slice into flour, and dip quickly into the egg and milk mixture.  Place the slices in the cheese and breadcrumb mixture.

(6) Allow the coated slices to dry for an hour on a rack.  (7) Sauté in butter until golden on each side. Remove from skillet and place in a baking pan greased with olive oil.  (8) Cover each slice of the coated eggplant with as much mozzarella cheese as desired.  Pour a jar of tomato sauce over the slices and bake for about 10 minutes.  (9) Remove from oven and allow to cool.  (10) Sprinkle lightly with ground oregano, and serve with pasta and tomato sauce.

I like that the eggplant is mostly baked, not fried. Fried eggplant tastes wonderful, and I like it. But it doesn’t like me. Tums anyone?  I must admit that even if I like the way the copycat eggplant Parmesan recipe turns out, I will probably not make it very often but, instead, will elect to go to the Olive Garden where I can also get a wonderful salad, and those really delicious chocolate mints for dessert.

Tomorrow morning I will cook my other favorite food: Frozen rock cornish broiler chickens from Costco, cooked in my Brinkmann smoker. Hey, maybe I should put a copycat recipe of my smoked chicken online.  Maybe there is a copycat recipe for my favorite dessert: Gelson’s alligator cake.

Google Search, here I come.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com