Eggplant Parmigiana

I don't make a lot of what Italophiles derisively call "Italian-American food." Dishes like spaghetti and meatballs, chicken piccata, and, the mother of all Italian-American fare, eggplant parm just don't do it for me on a daily basis. Nevertheless, when I am visiting my relatives and they cook this kind of stuff old-school style, I am the first in line to pack it down by the plateful. On a recent visit to my cousins house, we had what was the absolute best eggplant parmigiana that either of us had ever tasted.

I really should get the family recipe.

Really, though, eggplant parm is easy enough to prepare that whenever we get the urge, I pretty much just make it up as I go. How hard is it to slice up some eggplant, dredge it in flour, fry it in olive oil, and then assemble it with tomato sauce and cheese and bake?

When I stumbled upon this Whole Foods Eggplant Parm recipe that eliminated the frying step, I figured I'd give it a whirl. Eggplant acts like a sponge when you fry them in oil, so the one hazard of making the dish is that it can become way too oily.

In the end, this technique works quite well. There's still a huge clean up involved, but losing the frying step makes a difference.

Eggplant Parm
-Large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick pieces (I used two smaller, Sicilian eggplants which I find less bitter - you can salt and rest the eggplants after slicing to reduce bitter flavors)
-2 eggs, beaten with a fork
-1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-1 (25 ounces) jar pasta sauce (I don't think so - I made my own, see below)
-1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used smoked scamorza)
-1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (Nope - use parmigiano-reggiano)

Preheat oven with a baking sheet inside to 375°F. Coat eggplant slices with beaten egg, then bread with panko crumbs. Spread oil on hot baking sheet and place eggplant slices on it in a single layer. Bake 15 minutes, flip and bake another 10 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 475°F. In an 8 x 10-inch ovenproof dish, layer pasta sauce, then eggplant, and top with cheeses. Repeat, finishing with cheese. Bake until the cheese melts and turns golden in spots, about 15 minutes. 

Quick Tomato Basil Sauce
-1 tbsp olive oil

-½ medium onion
-½ clove garlic
-½ lb tomatoes, ½ 28 oz can
-Salt and pepper
-Basil leaves

Cook onion in olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes; add garlic and cook for 1 minute; add tomatoes and salt, pepper, and basil, and cook for 20-30 minutes, cool and puree in blender.