Receta Bruschetta Without the Bread.
Whenever Bruschetta is on a menu, it is usually listed under "Appetizers"; an Italian antipasto made with grilled bread as the base ingredient. Recently I received an eggplant and figured I would make the same old, same old eggplant parmigiana; Roy and I don't like eggplant, so this dish usually goes to his mom. Then I saw a recipe on Facebook that used eggplant as the top and bottom of a sandwich type appetizer/main course item with spaghetti and sauce as the filling. While the photo looked pretty, I truly didn't see the point of it; but it did get my mind going into a creative direction.
To the refrigerator I went to look for ingredients that would work with the eggplant; Roma tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, but then I spied the chicken cutlets I had defrosted for another recipe. Suddenly the picture of the recipe I was to make came into my mind like little photos, and I was off! The eggplant would be the base ingredient, just as bread was for bruschetta; olive oil, garlic, , Italian herbs, tomatoes and cheese were a given. The chicken, however, would give the entire dish a new dimension in flavor and texture; this would be one of those recipes that could be an appetizer or a main meal.
Enough chit chat and lets get to cooking...
Eggplant-Chicken
Bruschetta
1 medium sized eggplant
cut into 12 (1/4" thick) slices
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- in half
- 1 Tbsp Italian herbal mix
- 6 pieces boneless,
- skinless chicken breasts (1/4" thick, cut to equal or slightly larger size
- than eggplant slices)
- 6 slices Roma tomatoes
- 6 slices mozzarella cheese
- 3 tsp grated Parmesan
- cheese
- Preparation:
- Line a platter or baking
- sheet with paper towels; lay out eggplant slices, sprinkle with salt and cover
- with additional paper towels. Wait a
- minimum of one hour before pressing the paper towels onto the eggplant to
- remove excess water that has been drawn out by the salt.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil,
- medium-high heat, in a large skillet; place eggplant into skillet, brown one
- side, turn to brown other side and sprinkle garlic powder over first browned
side. Remove to paper towels.
Put remaining oil into
skillet plus herbal mix; place chicken into skillet and brown both sides;
remove to paper towels. Preheat oven to
375F; line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Build a stack: eggplant
slice, chicken piece, tomato slice, cheese slice, eggplant slice. When all stacks are made, place on the baking
sheet and top with 1/2 tsp of grated cheese.
Bake in oven for 5 to 7 minutes to allow mozzarella cheese to melt.
Makes 6 servings for an
appetizer; Makes 3 servings for a meal.