Eggplant Ricotta Bites

Last night I went to my friend's house, where we made a feast and watched movies. 

Here was our menu:

1. Eggplant Ricotta Bites
2. Chicken Chili Stew
3. Cornbread
4. Peanut Butter and Jelly Tiramisu
5. Sparkling Red Wine

It was awesome! We also watched Bad Teacher and the Twilight movies (but I feel asleep right when Twilight started).

The recipe for the Eggplant Ricotta Bites came from the Food Network.  Here is how we made it.

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant
Salt
All purpose flour
3 large eggs
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil
3 plum tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar - I think it would be better with balsamic
1 cup ricotta
Shredded fresh basil, for topping

1) THINLY slice the eggplant into rounds and season with salt.  You can use a heavy hand with the salt.

2) Set out three bowls.  Fill one with flour, one with the beaten eggs, and one with breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan.

3) Dredge the eggplant in the flour first, eggs second, and breadcrumb mixture third.

4) Heat up a tablespoon or so of olive oil over medium heat.  Wait a few minutes to make sure it is really heated up, which will improve your first batch. Working in batches, cook the eggplant until golden on each side - this took me about a minute per side.  Add olive oil between each batch. Drain eggplants on paper towels and season again with salt.

5) Finely dice the tomatoes and toss with two teaspoons of olive oil and two teaspoons of red wine vinegar.  If I were making this again, I would do 3 teaspoons of each, and try it with balsalmic instead of red wine.  I individually added more vinegar to each of my bites as I ate them.

6) Spoon some ricotta onto each eggplant slice and spread out with the spoon.  Top with tomatoes and shredded basil.

Note - these are NOT good left over, so only make as much as you plan to it, and don't expect delicious leftovers the next day.  The eggplant got a lot more eggplant-y overnight, and was harder to bite into.  It just got soggy overall.