For me, eggplant is an unfamiliar commodity. I love the way it tastes, I'll order it sometimes in a restaurant, but I have almost no experience cooking with it. I fried some up once many years ago and didn't cook it through-- it was all wrong, and I didn't try again after that. But I'm beginning to realize now that braving the world of unfamiliar ingredients can be good exercise.The French word for eggplant is aubergine, and I've always thought that if the English word were so beautiful, Americans would eat a lot more of it. It is a very beautiful vegetable, such a deep near-black color, so smooth and substantial. Saturday at the Farmers' Market, I hestitated as always when I saw perfect eggplants piled there, then decided, hmm, I'll bet I can figure out what to do with one of these, and I brought one home.
So for Sunday dinner, I made eggplant parmesan, and it was exquisite, if I do say so myself. Dave was skeptical beforehand, being even more unaccustomed to eggplant than I am, but he'll try anything, and I gotta tell ya, he raved about this meal.
This isn't a complicated dish, though frying up the eggplant is a little labor-intensive. My sister tells me that her Italian mother-in-law slices and peels the eggplant, salts it, then drains it several hours in a colander under the weight of a heavy pan to get out all the extra moisture. I didn't do this, but we were happy enough with my results.
Eggplant Parmesan
One or two large eggplants, washed and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds (use enough eggplant for at least 16 three to four-inch circles)
Seasoned breadcrumbs
Flour for dredging
3 eggs, beaten
Olive oil
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano
1/4 cup red wine
Half a medium sweet onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
8 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
In a large saucepan, cook garlic and onion in olive oil for five minutes. Add tomato sauce and tomatoes, basil, oregano and red wine. Let simmer for an hour.
Put flour into a pie pan, breadcrumbs into a separate pie pan and mix eggs in a bowl. Dip eggplant slices into flour, then eggs (letting excess drip off) and then coat in breadcrumbs. Stack on a plate until you've coated them all. In a large frying pan, heat a 1/2 inch of olive oil. (I used two fry pans at a time to finish up more quickly.) Brown eggplant slices 3 minutes per side over medium heat.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish and coat with breadcrumbs, shaking off excess. Arrange a layer of eggplant slices. Cover with sauce. Top with half the mozzarella and parmesan. Repeat layers, topping with cheese. Top with chopped parsley. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil, bake 10 minutes more.
6 comments:
This was a pleasant surprise. Dave-Bob says two thumbs up.
I really enjoyed this post. I have spent many afternoons the past two summers making eggplant parmesan from all the eggplant Dale grew in his garden. I gotta tell ya, we got sick of eggplant parmesan! But we did love it at one time. This year, Dale planted NO eggplant. We've resolved to take a summer off.
Anyway, the recipe I always used is basically the same. I often put lots of fresh basil into the sauce. I also experimented quite a bit with cheeses. Feta is very good, and I've even put dollops of goat cheese in before. While I agree that the recipe is basic, I find it very time-consuming. Also, the very last time I made it was last fall, using the last of the eggplant in the garden. I spent several hours in the kitchen. Then, as Dale and I sat down to dinner, he took his first bite and made an awful face. All of the eggplant was BITTER. I had to throw out the entire thing. Maybe that's why we swore off the stuff. Has anyone ever posted a blog response this long????
Lori, I welcome posts-- long is good!!! I see now that perhaps it was not my culinary skill so much that made this dish as my luck at choosing a good (and not bitter) eggplant. My basil plant is getting a little over-picked, or I would have put more basil in the sauce. It's good to be very generous with basil.
The English call it "aubergine," too. I think that doofussy word "eggplant" is an American thing. I'm going to check the OED at work to make sure.
I had no idea. Don't recall seeing a lot of aubergine dishes offered up for pub lunch during my infrequent travels in England, but I'll take your word for it... Now that I think about it, the only veggies I remember eating in a pub were chips.
Post a Comment