.....Eggplant....

Well, don't get scared looking at the title of the post :) My experiment with eggplant turned out delicious and I am not sure how to name my recipe.
I was craving for anything but Gujarati/Indian food and I also wanted to use ricotta cheese (I bought 4lb jar of ricotta cheese in sale and had to use before it went bad). So here is what I came up with

Serves 2-4
Preparation Time: 10 Minute
Cooking Time: 45 Minute

Ingredients
1 large eggplant
2-cup ricotta cheese
2-cup marinara sauce (I used homemade, store bought is equally fine)
1/2-cup Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
1 cup breadcrumbs, approx.
1/2 cup finely chopped basil leaves
Salt & Pepper

Procedure
1.Cut eggplant into 1/4 inch round slices. Brush them gently on both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
2. Coat them with breadcrumbs on both sides
3. Put these slices directly on grill at 350 F for 15-20 minutes on each side
4. Add salt, pepper and basil leaves to ricotta cheese
5. Place eggplant slices in a large baking tray in single layer and top them with ricotta cheese mixture
6. Cover with marinara sauce and lastly, top with Parmesan cheese
7. Bake them for 20 minutes at 400 F

I am not a huge fan of eggplant, but after making this dish I realized that combination of ricotta cheese and marinara sauce is just irresistible :).