Eggplant and Chicken Parmesan Gluten-Free Recipe

Ingredients:

1 bag gluten-free pretzels (I used Glutino)

4-6 eggs

sea salt

pepper

1 pound chicken (I used chicken tenders)

1 eggplant

mozzarella cheese

parmesan cheese (DiGiorno is good)

extra virgin olive oil

basil leaves

quinoa pasta

spaghetti sauce (you can, of course, make your own)

Slice the eggplant into thin slices and coat both sides with sea salt. Place the slices in a collander and put them to the side. By doing this, you sweat the eggplant which apparently helps with the bitterness, but I've also noticed it helps with the consistency of the eggplant.

Now for the chicken parmesan. Crush enough pretzels to coat the chicken tenders. Place them in one dish and then crack and scramble 2 eggs in a separate dish - add a splash of water to the eggs. Add black pepper to your pretzels. Place olive oil in a good thick-bottomed frying pan and start heating it up. Coat the chicken tenders with pretzels first, then coat with eggs, then back to the pretzels. (Of course, as you go along, you may have to add more crushed pretzels or more eggs to your process so have plenty on hand.) Place the chicken tender in the warmed-up pan. Continue until all chicken is breaded and placed in the pan. I cooked it on a lower temperature and then when I felt like they were cooked enough, I put them in the toaster oven on 100 degrees to keep them warm.

Next, the eggplant parmesan. Throw out your pretzels and eggs from your chicken round. (Very important.) Start fresh with another batch of crushed pretzels with black pepper and new eggs. Pat dry the eggplant (if you've never sweated eggplant before, they will be very moist). I might even suggest a light rinse on the eggplant, but I'm not sure if the water would 'reconstitute' them too much. Mine seemed a little salty. Whatever you do, ensure you pat the eggplant dry before following the "breading" and egging process. In a separate pan than that used for the chicken, lightly fry the eggplant on both sides.

When you feel like the eggplant is cooked, it's now time to place mozzarella and parmesan cheese on both the chicken pieces and the eggplant and melt. I did this in a toaster oven. When the cheese was melted to my satisfaction, I plated the red sauce and placed the chicken and eggplant parmesan over the red sauce. I served it with the quinoa pasta. The last touch was a light sprinkle of basil flakes for color and beauty.

It was delicious. If you've never cooked quinoa pasta before, be aware that it takes 13-15 minutes for this type of pasta to cook, so keep that in mind as you're cooking. I understand some folks like their eggplant parmesan layered with red sauce and cheese, etc., so feel free to take that liberty. I happen to like it crispy with just a little bit of red sauce. It was a success and my guest said she would not have ever considered breading items with pretzels, and also that she would have never known it was a gluten-free recipe. Success!