Mini Eggplant Parmesan Sticks

With a snow day at school, I took some time to experiment in the kitchen and make myself a fun lunch. I already had a lunch packed in the fridge ready to go, but it made more sense to save that meal for tomorrow and have fun cooking today while I can. I bought an eggplant this week which I don't do very often, and did a quick Google search for eggplant recipes. Whenever I'm a little stuck and the creative juices just aren't flowing for the ingredients I have in front of me, Google always backs me up. This morning, I found a page with Crispy Eggplant Fries and they looked rather enticing. I made essentially the same recipe with very few tweaks.

Mini Eggplant Parmesan Sticks

1 eggplant cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp parsley
marinara sauce for dipping

Preheat the broiler in the oven. Lightly grease a flat baking sheet. Crack the egg into a small bowl, add the water, and beat. In a second small bowl combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt, pepper, and parsley. Dip each piece of eggplant first into the egg, coating all sides. Then dredge each eggplant stick in the breadcrumb mixture, making sure to coat evenly and generously on all sides. Arrange the coated eggplant sticks on the baking sheet. Place under the broiler for 3-5 minutes, depending on desired crispness. Serve with lightly warmed marinara sauce for dipping.

There they are just coming out of the oven. That's my first sheet with about half of the eggplant, so the whole recipe makes double what you see in the picture. These are like a little bite-sized version of eggplant parmesan, especially once you add some marinara for dipping:

These little eggplant sticks are surprisingly addictive. I ate almost a whole tray in one sitting. I've never had a huge love for eggplant, but I really enjoyed this recipe. These would be a perfect appetizer or finger food for a party. They'd also be great for kids because they look somewhat like French fries but are healthy, and a great way to get your servings of vegetables.

For the beats, I'm choosing Grace Kelly by Mika. These eggplant parmesan sticks are a fancy and elegant dish disguising themselves as something fun (French fries). This tune is the opposite - a goofy and fun song and band trying to disguise themselves as something classy.