Eggplant Parmesan prepared and cooked in a Dutch oven need not be an over ambitious goal for a beginning Dutch oven cook. In this video you’ll see how Cee Dub simplifies Daves’s Dutch Oven Eggplant Parmesan recipe by breaking the preparation of the recipe into an easy step by step process.
1. Peel and slice the eggplant 1/2″ thick.
2. Make a simple egg wash of 1/2 cup milk and two eggs. Dip each slice into the egg wash then dredge with seasoned bread crumbs.
3. Brown eggplant slices in olive oil and set aside.
4. Dice an onion along with 4-6 cloves of garlic and sauté with a little olive oil.
5. Continue frying onion/garlic after adding 1 lb. of bulk Italian sausage.
6. When sausage is browned and crumbled add a 26 oz. can of tomato sauce, a 20 oz. can of stewed tomatoes, a half pound of chopped mushrooms, and 2-3 Tbsps. of chopped fresh basil. Remove from heat.
7. Spread approx. 1 cup of the meat sauce in the bottom of a 12″ Dutch oven and place slices of eggplant one layer thick. Sprinkle the slices of eggplant with fresh grated Parmesan Cheese and then cover with a scant layer of the meat sauce.
8. Repeat this layer two more times and top with more grated Parmesan Cheese.
9. Bake for one hour with 8-9 briquettes underneath and 22-26 briquettes on top.
Serve with garlic bread and your favorite red wine.
By taking the preparation of this recipe one step at a time, a recipe some folks may consider or think overwhelming is end up in the comfort zone of even beginning Dutch oven cooks.
PS: To make this vegetarian, do not use the Italian sausage.