This delicious Italian dish can be a side with meat or seafood, an entrée (with ground beef or Italian sausage added) or even a bruschetta for spreading on toasted low-carb bread! Very versatile, this recipe. I make my own pesto sauce and usually have some spaghetti meat sauce in my freezer, so this dish is real easy to whip up most of the time. Fresh basil often doesn’t agree with my stomach, but I’m here to tell you this was one of the very best eggplant dishes I’ve eaten in a LONG time! I used just a hint of my pesto sauce. This is one of those dishes that isn’t so pretty, but it makes up for this photographic flaw in flavor! DELICIOUS!
This recipe is suitable for Atkins Induction and it freezes well, too! It is a fairly small side dish recipe, so double the recipe for a large family. This serves 4 as a side. With the addition of a layer of pre-browned ground beef or ground Italian sausage, this would make a delightful entrée for 2 people. As an appetizer bruschetta spread, each 1-2 tablespoons (1/4 serving) would contain around 55 cals, 4g fat, 1.6 g carbs, 0.66g fiber, 1g NET CARBS, 1.3 g protein, 18 mg sodium (not counting the toasted bread you use).
NOTE: As an alternative preparation method, to cut fat grams you can toss the cubed eggplant in just 1 T. olive oil. Then spread onto onto a silicone-lined or non-stick baking pan lightly oiled with olive oil. Your call there.
INGREDIENTS:
8 oz. eggplant, peeled, sliced ¼” thick and then cut into smaller pieces about 1″ in size
3 T. olive oil [see note in red above]
1 T. my pesto sauce
½ c. low carb spaghetti sauce
1 T. Parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 c. mozzarella cheese, grated
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. If sautéing eggplant, heat oil in non-stick skillet and sauté the eggplant, turning often with a spoon, until it is completely translucent (will be nearly done at this point). If pre-baking your eggplant, lightly oil a pan and bake/broil the slices on a baking sheet at 350º about 10-20 minutes. When nearly done, remove from heat. Place the chopped eggplant in a small casserole-type baking dish (no need to grease the baking dish). Dot the eggplant evenly with the spaghetti sauce first. Then dot evenly with the pesto sauce. Sprinkle on the Parmesan and finally spread the mozzarella evenly on top. Pop into a 350º oven for about 20-30 minutes.
NUTRITIONAL INFO: As a vegetable dish, this serves 4. As an entrée (8 oz. meat added) it serves 2 people. Each side dish serving (no meat) contains:
214.5 cals, 18.5g fat, 6.3g carbs, 2.63g fiber, 3.67g NET CARBS, 7.08 g protein, 71 mg sodium
Buttoni's Low-Carb Recipes 