In the past 2 years I have discovered something new about myself. At my age this is quite an accomplishment, btw! I have learned that I love Italian food. One of my favorite dishes my late father in law use to make was Eggplant Parmesan. Whenever we would visit the in-laws on the East coast, that was a dish I could always count on him making me because he knew I loved it. We ate it one of two ways, in a sandwich between nice crusty bread or with pasta tossed in butter.
He would also pack a soft cooler of frozen Eggplant Parmesan for me to take back home. Or when he visited, he would make tons for me to freeze. He cooked, I cleaned that was the deal. Yet while I loved his cooking, he would use almost every stinkin’ pot and pan we had in the house. Needless to say, cleaning up after him was no easy task but well worth it! I swear on my tutu’s grave, I have yet to find an Eggplant Parmesan dish out there that would rival my father in laws & yet the irony of it all is he was Cuban and not Italian.
My father in law taught me that one of the mainstays of good Italian dishes is a killer marinara sauce. He had an awesome recipe for marinara sauce which I used on dishes like:
- Bracciole
- Meatballs
- Lasagna
- Stuffed Tomatoes
- Mussels Marinara
- Sausage and Peppers
- Pizza
For years, I used his recipe and loved it but it was time consuming to make. It required lots of fresh ingredients and hours of simmering. Which working mom out there has hours to simmer? Certainly not this one *point to self* The only time I ever simmer for hours is when I’m angry about something. Long story short, after a little bit of tweaking, I came up with my own recipe. One that tastes, IMHO, better then his and takes a fraction of the time! In my book that’s what I call WINNING!
My friends across the inter webs who have made this recipe have all said they loved it. I hope you love it as much as we all do! If you happen to try it, tag me on social media with #heynayhey
[yumprint-recipe id=’9′]
Leave a Reply