Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich
This recipe is part of the series “Baby is the size of a…” - it’s week 22 and baby is the size of an eggplant! It’s still hard to believe I am over halfway through my pregnancy. I went home to visit family in Kentucky last week, and it’s safe to say our families are SO excited! Some of them think it’s a girl, some think it’s a boy - and some have no clue, just like me! Everyone keeps asking if I have a “mom instinct” telling me, but I truthfully don’t. We will just have to wait until December to see!
Okay let’s get to the good stuff. I’m a BIG sandwich gal. Especially in the summer, there’s just something about having a really good sandwich for lunch - ya know?! I knew this was the perfect excuse to make a loaded eggplant parmesan sandwich. A ciabatta bread loaf is topped with homemade garlic butter, roasted eggplant slices, marinara sauce, mozzarella AND parmesan cheese, and of course fresh basil. The flavors are incredible, and the bread has the perfect crunch. I could seriously make this on a weekly basis, it was so incredible. This would also be good with breaded eggplant if you want to take the extra step, but with the delicious ciabatta I don’t really think it’s necessary!
This recipe calls for a head of roasted garlic - if you need a video tutorial, click here.
Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich
Ingredients
- 1 head of garlic
- Olive oil
- 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp. loosely packed parsley, chopped fine
- Dash of salt
- 1 loaf of ciabatta bread
- 1 eggplant
- Olive oil
- Marinara sauce
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- Shaved parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil
Instructions
- Start by preparing the garlic butter. Preheat oven to 400°. Cut off bottom 1/4 of the head of garlic. Place it in foil and douse it in olive oil. Wrap up the foil and place it on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes.
- While the garlic is roasting place the butter, parsley, and salt in a small bowl. After the garlic has roasted squeeze out the cloves into the bowl and mash together with a fork, forming the garlic butter.
- Thinly slice the eggplant and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and let sit 10 minutes. Pat the salt off of the eggplant with a paper towel. (This removes extra moisture).
- Lightly brush each eggplant slice with olive oil on both sides. Roast at 400° for 20 minutes.
- Cut ciabatta bread loaf in half and start assembling the sandwich. Spread garlic butter on both sides of the bread, add the eggplant slices, marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella, and shaved parmesan. Keep the sandwich open faced and broil at 400° for 3 minutes.
- Top with chopped fresh basil.
- Place bread back together to make sandwich - enjoy!