The weather is cooling down, which means warm baked dishes and lots of binge watching on Netflix (Hustle and Flow anyone?) I made this Baked Skillet Eggplant White Bean Casserole for the week and wanted to share it with you all because it’s fairly simple and packed with savory flavor!

I grew up eating eggplants. It was one of my mom’s favorite vegetables to cook, and she would usually make them stewed with tomatoes, spices, and fresh herbs. We would enjoy it with rice, beans, and whatever meat she cooked. For this recipe, I used Italian eggplant, which tends to be pretty big. The great thing is that this recipe uses the entire eggplant, and so nothing goes to waste!

To get started, soak the eggplant rounds in a bowl with salt water (the water should taste salty, 2 tablespoons of salt per 1 cup of water works well) for a 2+ hours. This helps to remove the bitterness of the eggplant. Drain the eggplant and pat it dry with paper towels. Preheat the oven to 400F. Add the parsley, garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar to a food processor. Pulse until you have a consistent sauce. Add the white beans to a bowl, and mix in the parsley sauce. Set aside.

In a parchment paper lined baking sheet, add your eggplant rounds and bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway. Once done, let’s layer the skillet. Add half of the eggplant rounds to the bottom of the skillet, then add 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, then 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, all of the white beans, 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese, and then top with the rest of the eggplant rounds. Then top with the remaining ricotta, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Bake for 40 minutes at 400F. Once done, top lightly with coarse sea salt and enjoy!

Baked Skillet Eggplant White Bean Casserole

Servings: 4

Ingredients

For the beans:

1/2 cup fresh parsley
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 cup white beans, cooked

For the eggplant casserole:

1 large Italian eggplant, sliced in rounds
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Sea salt, to taste

Instructions

Soak the eggplant rounds in a bowl with salt water (the water should taste salty, 2 tablespoons of salt per 1 cup of water works well) for a 2+ hours. Drain the eggplant and pat it dry with paper towels.
Preheat the oven to 400F. Add the parsley, garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar to a food processor. Pulse until you have a consistent sauce. Add the white beans to a bowl, and mix in the parsley sauce. Set aside.
In a parchment paper lined baking sheet, add your eggplant rounds and bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway.
Once done, let's layer the skillet. Add half of the eggplant rounds to the bottom of the skillet, then add 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, then 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce, all of the white beans, 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese, and then top with the rest of the eggplant rounds.
Then top with the remaining ricotta, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Bake for 40 minutes at 400F. Once done, top lightly with coarse sea salt and enjoy!