Easy Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

This eggplant parmesan is prepared casserole-style and is suuuuper delicious!  My husband loved it the other day, so I’m making it again to bring to a family dinner.  It’s modified from SusanV’s recipe on her FatFree Vegan Kitchen site.  Mine’s basically a shortcut to hers, but I promise it’s still incredibly tasty!  Just faster. 😉 

*This recipe is vegan, but cannot be considered whole foods because it contains some processed ingredients.*

Easy Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant, in 1/4 inch slices
  
• olive oil or olive oil spray
  
• whole grain breadcrumbs (I used prepackaged, but you can easily make them by toasting and crumbling whole wheat bread)
  
• handful of almonds or walnuts chopped fine in a food processor (this is the parmesan “cheese”)
• marinara sauce (I bought mine, but even better if you make your own!)
• fresh basil
  
• “cheese” sauce:
  • 1/2 block tofu
  • 3/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 1/8 cup raw cashews
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 1/2 T nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp black or white pepper
  • 2 tsp cornstarch

Directions:

• After slicing the eggplant, put it in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and let them sweat while  you’re making the cheese sauce.
• To prepare the cheese sauce, place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until the mixture is nice and smooth.  If you let it sit awhile before assembling the casserole, you might have to blend the “cheese” again as it may have separated.
• Rinse the eggplant slices and pat dry with a paper towel.  Lightly spray or coat a baking sheet with olive oil, arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer, and coat the tops lightly with olive oil.  Place the baking sheet under the broiler and watch them CAREFULLY!  Remove them when they begin to brown.  This may take as little as 3 minutes, though in my oven it is always a little longer.  Repeat with the remaining eggplant slices if they didn’t all fit on the baking sheet.
• Preheat your oven to 350 F.
• Assemble your casserole in an 8×8 dish lightly coated with olive oil.  First, place half the eggplant slices on the bottom of the dish, edges overlapping.  Next, sprinkle with half the breadcrumbs and half the marinara sauce.  Then, pour half the cheese sauce over the sauce and sprinkle with half the chopped nuts (or vegan parmesan, if you prefer).
• Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients and finish with some breadcrumbs on top.
• Bake uncovered for 20 minutes until slightly brown on top.  Top with fresh basil just before serving.
• Makes 4 servings.