My Aunty Bea dropped off some eggplants from their garden the other day and I thought I'd try to make an eggplant parmigiana. This version is very loosely based on Marcella's Hazan's recipe in "Essentials of Classicd Italian Cooking." First, peeled and sliced an eggplant and purged the slices with salt for about half an hour. Then dredged the slices with flour (actually a frying mix Ms. D gave me) and fried in about a half inch of vegetable oil until browned. Put it in a small ramekin I had lying around.
Covered slice with some bottled spaghetti sauce, some dried basil, and some Italian cheese blend. Okay, it really should be canned Italian plum tomatoes coarsely chopped and reduced by half, leaf basil, and thinly sliced mozzarella, but this was a dry run to get the idea without obsessing on the details. Stacked on another slice, and repeated with the sauce, basil and cheese. Put in pre-heated 400 degree oven until cheese melted and browned.
It actually worked! The eggplant got a little lost in the sauce and cheese, so next time I'll make the eggplant slices a little thicker and go with the real ingredients. The layering is kind of interesting, sort of lasagna like, minus the noodles. I've only seen the single slice version, with the eggplant presented like some sort of cutlet with sauce and cheese. With nice wine, a green salad, and a crusty bread, it'd be a nice meal.
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