Baked Eggplant Parmesan

It has dawned on me that I haven’t posted a recipe in a while.  I have no story to go with it, but I made this dish this weekend for Ben and Beau and it was a big hit. But take caution-you need a few hours of your day to devote to this! At least I did, the novice chef of Italian cuisine!

 

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

 

 

2 medium eggplant, cut horizontally

1 T kosher salt

4 c breadcrumbs

1 c grated Parmesan

Salt and pepper

1 c flour

4 eggs

6 T vegetable oil

 

TOMATO SAUCE

2 cans diced tomatoes (I used my fresh tomatoes)

2 T EVOO

4 medium garlic cloves, minced

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

½ c coarsely chopped fresh basil

Salt and pepper

8 oz whole milk mozzarella, shredded

½ c grated Parmesan

10 fresh basil leaves for garnish

 

In large bowl, toss the sliced eggplant with the salt and pour eggplant into a strainer to let the eggplant sweat. After sweating (about 30 minutes), transfer eggplant to a triple layered stack of paper towels with another triple stack in hand. Press down on the eggplant to soak up all the liquid.

 

Preheat oven to 425 and place two cookies sheets in the oven to warm.

 

In a pie plate or shallow dish, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Set aside. Combine flour and 1 tsp pepper in another dish. And beat eggs in a dish. Line them up. Coat each eggplant slice in the flour mixture, then dredge in the egg and roll it around in the bread crumb mixture and place on the hot cookie sheet. Repeat this for all of the eggplant slices. Place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes and then flip and cook another 10-15 minutes, until crispy. Remove but keep oven on.

 

SAUCE

While eggplant bakes, puree the tomatoes in a blender. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the crushed red pepper and garlic and cook on medium-high heat until the garlic is soft, but not burned. Add the pureed tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer until reduced and slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Adjust the seasoning and add sliced basil.

 

ASSEMBLY

Spread 1 c tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish. Top with eggplant slices so you cover the whole dish, with some eggplant overlapping. Top with another cup of tomato sauce. Sprinkle with half of the mozzarella.  Layer in remaining eggplant and top with remaining sauce, remaining mozzarella and ½ c Parmesan cheese. Bake 15 minutes, until sauce is bubbly and cheese is golden. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

 

*This sauce didn’t make enough for my liking. I would have doubled the sauce.

 

**I served it with angel hair pasta.