Eggplant and Potato Casserole

I love eggplant, it's considered a vegetable but it's actually a fruit.  It's so versatile and good for you.  My family is divided when it comes to eggplant, my husband and youngest daughter aren't fans but my oldest daughter, Tabitha and I love it.  I've been buying it at the farmers market for years, finely chopping or shredding it, keeping a baggie of it in the freezer and putting it almost everything I cook and since it's finely chopped it's indistinguishable.  It's a great way to stretch ground meat, it takes on the flavor of the meat it's cooked with. Tabitha and I have made stuffed eggplant before which we really liked but no one else would eat.  Recently, I saw a recipe on Cookist for an eggplant and potato dish that looked good so I tried it this weekend since Tabitha was home. It turned out so well and very yummy that I will defiantly be making this again.  The recipe called for the eggplant to be sliced, pricked with a fork and placed on a baking sheet and baked for 20 minutes to pre cook it.  The potatoes weren't pre cooked in the recipe and took about 45 minutes to get tender so next time I'm going to pre cook them along with the eggplant.  In the recipe video that I watched the eggplant, potatoes and cheese were all uniform sized and were put overlapping in a round baking dish and sliced like a pie when baked.  My vegetables were not uniform and I was using more of them to make enough for both Tabitha and I for lunches.  I layered mine in a rectangular baking pan starting with the eggplant, sliced block cheese, (I had bought a really nice herb cheese from the Norman Ok farmers market), potatoes, sprinkled olive oil and shredded cotija cheese and then did another layer. The recipe called for sliced scamorza (which is a type of mozzarella) and shredded Parmesan cheese but since I had the really nice block of herb blend and shredded cotija I just used that instead. You could really use any kind of cheese. I think a layer of sliced tomatoes would be good as well so next time I'm going to add them. I have jars of sofrito and fermented garlic paste in my refrigerator that I add to whatever I'm cooking so I added 1 teaspoon of each to the first layer when I drizzled the olive oil on.  It just gave it added flavor but there were a few pockets of garlic so next time I'm going to mix them in with the oil then add on top of the potatoes.

Here's the recipe:

Eggplant and Potato Casserole

3 to 4 medium to large eggplants, round ones work better, sliced 1/4 inch

6 to 8 new potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch

8 oz. block or ball of cheese, any flavor, like cheddar or mozzarella, (I used a herb blend),sliced

2 cups shredded Parmesan or cotija cheese

seasoned salt and Italian blend seasoning (I used Tastefully Simple Rustic herb seasoning)

4 T olive oil

1 t. sofrito, optional added to olive oil

Slice eggplant 1/4 inch thick, prick a couple of times with a fork.  Also slice potatoes 1/4 inch thick.  Place eggplant and potatoes on separate baking sheets, sprinkle with seasoned salt and Italian blend seasoning and bake at 350 for 20 minutes to par cook.  Let cool slightly. In baking dish, layer eggplant, sliced cheese and potatoes starting with eggplant.  Mix olive oil and sofrito (I added garlic paste as well) and sprinkle 1/2 over potatoes. Sprinkle 1/2 shredded cheese and repeat layers topping with shredded cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes or until potatoes are done.

Optional, a layer of sliced tomatoes.

Enjoy,

Bamah