Crispy Baked Eggplant

Five minutes ago, I decided that I will start to post some of my favorite recipes on this blog. Here's the first. I made it for lunch today. Yummmy. This is an AWESOME recipe for crispy baked eggplant...and no fried oil smell to permeate the house! It's very healthy. I got it from Mollie Katzen's "Still Life With Menu Cookbook".

CRISPY BAKED EGGPLANT

oil for the baking tray
1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup milk (lowfat okay)
1 cup wheat germ or fine bread crumbs (I use breadcrumbs)
1 tsp each dried basil and dried dill
1/4 tsp dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly oil a baking tray.

Slice the eggplant very thin (no more than 1/4 inch). Salt the slices lightly and let them stand about 10 minutes. Then pat dry with paper towels.

Place the milk in one bowl; combine the wheat germ and herbs in another.

Dip the eggplant slices in the milk, dredge in wheat germ, and arrange on the oiled tray.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the eggplant is crisp on the outside and tender on the inside (test with a fork). I start checking these at 15 minutes and flip them over so they brown evenly on both sides. They will burn easily!

I find with a smaller eggplant, I get just enough to fill one tray. With a 1 1/2 pounder, it takes up at least 2 trays and some usually goes to waste in our household.