Grilled Eggplant Parmesan lightens up the Italian family dinner classic. This no-fry meatless approach makes a sophisticated year-round entrée or side dish. Even without summer tomatoes or an outdoor grill, make this dish anyway. Good canned tomatoes and a hot oven broiler handily get the job done for this new-fashioned dish.
Grilled Eggplant Parmesan is essentially a heat-and-assemble project based on a non-recipe recipe. Just go with it or, if you need a guide, there’s a good recipe below. Here’s the idea:
Coat the eggplant slices with a slick of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. Grill (or broil) both sides until tender and charred. Place the grilled slices on a baking sheet (or in a foil pan) that fits in your grill.
Gently heat the tomato slices (or whole smashed whole canned tomatoes) in a separate foil pan with olive oil, minced garlic, and salt.
Place some of the tomatoes on each eggplant slice and top with a little fresh mozzarella cheese and a sprinkling of parmesan. Gently heat the eggplant-tomato-cheese stacks on the grill with the cover closed (or closely watched for a couple of minutes under the broiler) until the cheese nicely melts.
Sprinkle the stacks with fresh herbs like basil, oregano, or parsley. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Our Modern Eggplant Parmesan is another fun lighter variation of good ol’ eggplant parm. Instead of breading and frying, diced cubes of eggplant are quickly boiled and combined with a simple homemade tomato sauce, topped with cheese, then baked. It’s pure and fresh. Boiling actually works pretty well so give it a try.
Need some more ideas? How about:
Roasted Cauliflower, cauliflower is the new potato.
Parboil Winter Vegetables Before Grilling, this makes grilling cruciferous vegetables easier.
Roasted Root Vegetables, Irish favorites roasted all together.
Roasted Carrots, easy, cheap and colorful.
Roasted Cauliflower and Cabbage with Farro, two unglamorous favorites made fancy with farro.
Twice Baked Potatoes, not on the grill but a recipe everyone needs.