Fresh pesto and fried eggplant go together like 2 peas in a pod. This recipe is great with a glass of wine on a cold winter night when you are in dire need of some good old fashioned comfort food.
The hardest part of this recipe is making the fresh pesto sauce (which isn’t very hard at all). The instructions and ingredients on frying your eggplant will come in handy for a multitude of recipes including Eggplant Parmesan.
I also like to leave the flatbread in the oven a little longer than usual. It is all a matter of preference, I just like my crust to be super-crispy. A little browning of the cheese is usually when I take it out of the oven.
And as always… Live to Eat!
Pesto & Fried Eggplant Flatbread
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Pesto and Fried Eggplant Flat bread topped with tomatoes and gooey mozzarella cheese.
Author: Cooking Divine
Recipe type: Main Dish
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
- FOR THE PESTO
- 1 Cup Fresh Basil Leaves
- ¼ Cup Parmesan Reggiano Cheese (grated)
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil
- ¼ Cup Pine Nuts
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- Salt & Pepper to Taste
- FOR THE EGGPLANT
- Olive Oil for Frying
- 1 Eggplant
- 1 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
- ¼ Cup Parmesan Reggiano Cheese (grated)
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley (chopped)
- 2 Garlic Cloves (minced)
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Pepper
- 1 Egg
- FOR THE FLAT BREAD
- 1 Flat Bread (or 2 smaller flat breads)
- 8 Oz Mozzarella Cheese (shredded)
- 1 Tomato
Directions
- Make the Pesto:
- Add fresh basil leaves and pine nuts to a food processor and pulsate until chopped finely.
- Add the ¼ cup Parmesan cheese and 2 garlic cloves and pulsate until combined.
- Slowly drip the olive oil into the combined mixture while processing the pesto.
- Add salt and pepper to taste then set pesto aside.
- Fry the Eggplant:
- Heat 1 inch of olive oil in a medium saucepan for frying.
- Slice eggplant lengthwise into ¼ inch pieces so that you have long thin strips of eggplant.
- Cover eggplant in salt and set aside for 15 minutes in order to dry them out.
- In a bowl, combine panko bread crumbs, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, 2 garlic cloves minced, salt and pepper.
- In a separate bowl beat an egg.
- Dip eggplant slices into the egg and coat with bread crumb mixture.
- Fry in saucepan until golden and crunchy (roughly 2 mins per side).
- Set aside eggplant.
- Make the Flatbread:
- Preheat oven to 400 Degrees and move a rack to the very bottom.
- Assemble flat bread by coating with a thin layer of pesto, followed by strips of fried eggplant, sliced tomato and a healthy portion of the mozzarella cheese. Finish by dripping additional pesto on top.
- Cook flat bread on bottom rack for 10-12 minutes until crispy and cheese bubbling.
1 Comment. Leave new
Delicious!!!!