Dinner At Home, Weekend Edition: Eggplant Parmesan

I haven’t been this excited about a home cooked meal in a long time. It takes some time to prepare as there are multiple steps and it works best if the eggplant has time to release some of its water content by salting the slices and allowing them to drain for an hour or more, but it is so worth it if you have the time.

The extra steps taken to ensure the eggplant slices get a good baked crunchiness and that the tomato sauce is fresh and garlicky elevates this dish to A+ status. Every bite of all 4 plates were gobbled up, and we even soaked up the extra sauce with buttered slices of baguette.

Weekend dinner success.

INGREDIENTS

3 medium eggplant

Kosher salt

1/2 cup all purpose flour

3 eggs

1 cup of fresh breadcrumbs

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon of oil

tomato sauce

sliced fresh mozzarella cheese

shredded parmesan

fresh basil leaves

PREPARATION

Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Lay the slices on a rack over paper towels or in the sink, sprinkle with salt and let sit to release moisture for at least one hour.

While the eggplant slices are draining, you can choose to make your own tomato sauce. Of course store bought sauce is fine (we use Rao’s Marinara when we buy it), but if it’s summer time and you have access to fresh tomatoes, take the extra time to make your own sauce. It’s so good.

Next, set up your station with 3 shallow bowls for dredging your eggplant rounds. In your first shallow bowl, add the all purpose flour. In the second bowl, add the eggs and whisk until smooth. In your third bowl, combine the breadcrumbs (we blended a 5 inch piece of a stale baguette to make our crumbs) with the grated Parmesan cheese.

Prepare your baking sheet by spreading oil lightly over the bottom. Pat your eggplant slices dry with paper towels, then working one at a time, dredge the eggplant slices first in the flour, then in the egg, and finally in the breadcrumb mixture. Shaking off excess of each during the process. Place the slices on the oiled sheet pan and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes on each side (20 minutes of total cooking time).

After removing the eggplant from the over, turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and spoon a little of the tomato sauce into it. Top the sauce with a single layer of the eggplant, then cover the eggplant with sliced fresh mozzarella cheese, a dusting of shredded parmesan, and a scattering of fresh basil leaves cut into ribbons. Repeat layers until all of the ingredients have been used up.

Bake uncovered until the dish is bubbling and cheese is melted, about 25 minutes.