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Overdue? Try the eggplant parmigiana!  

post #1 of 21
Thread Starter 
Well this has been on the news for getting labor going. I'm making a batch tonight to see if I can get things going for me, because I'm still pregnant and I have a new induction date scheduled for next Tuesday I'd rather not go to. LOL Here's the story and the recipe(posted under fair use laws, ;0). :


Eggplant Parmigiana Alla Scalini's
From restaurant owners Bobby and John Bogino

Nearly 300 baby pictures decorate Scalini's old-fashioned Italian restaurant in Cobb County, Ga.


All of the babies pictured on the Italian restaurant wall were born after their mothers ate the Scalini's eggplant parmigiana. The $9.95 plate of breaded eggplant smothered in cheese and thick marinara sauce is "guaranteed" to induce labor, the restaurant claims.

The eggplant legend began not long after the restaurant opened 23 years ago.

"Two or three years after we began, a few people had just mentioned to us they came in when they were pregnant, and ate this eggplant and had a baby a short time after that," said John Bogino, who runs the restaurant with his son, Bobby Bogino. "One person told another, and it just grew by itself by leaps and bounds."

To date, more than 300 of the pregnant women customers who ordered the eggplant have given birth within 48 hours, and the restaurant dubs them the "eggplant babies." If it doesn't work in two days, the moms-to-be get a gift certificate for another meal.

We make no promises, but the restaurant has graciously shared the recipe.


Ingredients

3 medium sized eggplants
1 cup flour
6 eggs, beaten
4 cups fine Italian bread crumbs, seasoned
Olive oil for sauteing
8 cups of marinara sauce (recipe below)
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 pounds of mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 cups of ricotta cheese

Directions

1. After you wash the eggplant, slice them into 1/4-inch thick slices. You may choose to peel the eggplant before you slice it. However, you may want to leave the skin on since it contains a lot of vitamins.

2. Place the eggplant slices on a layer of paper towels and sprinkle with a little salt, then cover with another layer of paper towels and hold it down with something heavy to drain the excess moisture. Let them sit for about an hour.

3. Working with one slice of eggplant at a time, dust with flour, dip in beaten eggs, then coat well with breadcrumbs.

4. Saute in preheated olive oil on both sides until golden brown.

5. In baking dish, alternate layers of marinara sauce, eggplant slices, ricotta, parmesan and Romano cheeses, until you fill the baking dish, about 1/8 inch from the top. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese, and bake for 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.



Scalini's Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of chopped garlic
3 Tablespoons of olive oil
8 cups chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)
1 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup of fresh chopped parsley
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1/8 cup of fresh chopped sweet basil
Pinch of thyme
Pinch of rosemary
One teaspoon salt
One teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Lightly saute the onions in olive oil in large pot for a few minutes.

2. Add garlic and saute another minute.

3. Add tomatoes and bring sauce to a boil, then turn heat low.

4. Add remaining ingredients, stir, cover and let simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.
post #2 of 21
i am SO not trying to rush baby's birth date (not due till 24th), so i'm really glad i don't live in cobb cty, GA - because now i really MUST have eggplant parmigiana for dinner tonight. hopefully i won't see any baby pictures on the wall of my local pizza joint!
post #3 of 21
I live in GA and we ate there back when I was pg with my first. It didn't work

If I get desperate I might make DH take me again, its really good though!
post #4 of 21
Don't live anywhere near this joint but I've heard of eggplant parm as an inducer also and tried making my own the other night.
Not only did it suck but, needless to say, it didn't work
post #5 of 21
I've heard it's actually the fresh spices (basil, etc.) that can kick labor, not the eggplant. I had fresh basil in a salad the night I went into labor with dd.

The night before I went into labor with ds here I pigged out on sushi. :
post #6 of 21
My basil is growing like crazy in my garden right now. I might have to make some pesto tomorrow. :
post #7 of 21
Gooo Goooddess!

We just had basil and tomato spaghetti.

*crosses fingers*.
post #8 of 21
mmmm pesto..
i wonder if the eggplant parm would work without the eggs and dairy....
post #9 of 21
Thread Starter 
LOL, I wish I knew it was the basil before hand! All those ingredients cost me like $45 for the parm and BTW it takes forever to make, I'm still working on this batch and I started 2.5 hours ago!, LOL. Oh well, it will be super yummy.
post #10 of 21
good on you, goddess!! i love homemade eggplant parm, but i know myself and that i do not possess the energy reserves necessary to make it tonight. we went to our local italian spot and got a sub. yum!

and i'll add fresh-basil pesto to my arsenal of late-april tricks!
post #11 of 21
Ooo.... that does sound delish....:

Quote:
Originally Posted by counterGOPI View Post
mmmm pesto..
i wonder if the eggplant parm would work without the eggs and dairy....

Well, it wouldn't be eggplant parm, more like eggplant marinara .
You could do it, the key would be finding something other than egg to use for making the breading stick.

Here's one suggestion:
"As a glue for breading - milk (crumbs won't stick as well; consider refrigerating the breaded food for about an hour before cooking to improve adhesion) "

Maybe you could use a soy milk, then breading, then refrig, then fry?

Here's a link that uses breading/pan frying with soymilk - http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=12475.0
post #12 of 21
Quote:
Originally Posted by counterGOPI View Post
mmmm pesto..
i wonder if the eggplant parm would work without the eggs and dairy....
Yeah, wouldn't be eggplant parmigiana... though Vegan Gourmet does a nice vegan mozzarella that would help.

For the egg, try flax goo... 1 Tbsp. ground flax to 2-3 Tbsp. warm water, let sit for a while, that's 1 egg. Works as a binder for all sorts of things.
post #13 of 21
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goddess3_2005 View Post
LOL, I wish I knew it was the basil before hand! All those ingredients cost me like $45 for the parm and BTW it takes forever to make, I'm still working on this batch and I started 2.5 hours ago!, LOL. Oh well, it will be super yummy.
Here's hoping it works for you!
post #14 of 21
Thread Starter 
Oh my heck, well if eating this EP dosen't put me into labor, making it will! I just finished (granted I did stop to take a bubble bath in the middle, ) Dh gave up and got the kids pizza because I was taking so long! Be warned this makes a TON of food! I finally have a small batch in oven for me to eat. ;0)
post #15 of 21
Hi, jumping in from July cause I saw this thread and laughed. I was almost 2wks overdue with my son (almost 3yrs ago now) and desperate, of course, and my aunt told me this. I was so sick of people telling me stupid ways to induce labor and I wasn't going to try it. I figured the baby would come when he was ready. But of course, EP is my favorite, so after it was mentioned, I had to eat it. So a few days later, we picked up EP subs from a local place. I'm not kidding, I wasn't even done eating it and my water broke! It did not taste good coming back up later though, haha. I don't actually think the EP is what caused my labor, it was probably being overdue. But if you like EP anyway, you might as well try it. Good luck!
post #16 of 21
I tried eating some Eggplant Parmigiana in both of my other pregnancies and all it did was give me nasty heartburn I can't tolerate any dairy or gluten right now so I'm not even going to attempt it. Maybe I'll make a big batch of homemade Baba Ghanoush instead That actually sounds really good, but this is coming from the mama who won't get up to make herself a snack most of the time because it sounds like too much work. So probably not gonna happen!
post #17 of 21
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goddess3_2005 View Post
Oh my heck, well if eating this EP dosen't put me into labor, making it will! I just finished (granted I did stop to take a bubble bath in the middle, ) Dh gave up and got the kids pizza because I was taking so long! Be warned this makes a TON of food! I finally have a small batch in oven for me to eat. ;0)

Are you still with us??


Was it good?!
post #18 of 21

Confirm/Deny?

You know ladies one thing that I thought of was spring rolls actually!

I know a lot of spring rolls I've had from Thai places contains basil. Just something to think about ladies for those of us who get heartburn from tomato sauce!
post #19 of 21
I don't like eggplant, but spring rolls sound yummy! Only 37.5 weeks here so I'm not in a rush of course.
post #20 of 21
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovingmommyhood View Post
Are you still with us??


Was it good?!
It was soo good. : But I'm still here. Hmm theres a Thai place down the road..... Sigh I really hate to be trying all this stuff to force baby out, but I'm in a perdicament, baby needs to come out and they're going to try the induction again next week.....
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