La Parmigiana Di Melanzane (Eggplant Parmigiana)

Nom, nom, nom, ...

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 Eggplants
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 pound Mozzarella (fior di latte)
• large bunch Fresh Basil, chopped
• Flour
• Egg, egg substitute, or egg white, beaten
• Marinara sauce
• Panko and/or Italian bread crumbs

As with all my Mozzarella dishes, I prefer fior di latte. It's mozzarella made from fresh pasteurized or unpasteurized cow's milk instead of the low-moisture rubber you find in zip-loc bags. A foodie will insist it's not real mozzarella, and they'd be technically correct. Real Mozzarella di Bufala, is made from domesticated water buffalo milk. It has to be imported from Italy and will only stay fresh for a day or two. If you can find it in the U.S. it's not going to be fresh and will have a slightly sour taste - don't bother with it. You'll find Mozzarella fior di latte in plastic tubs immersed in water or in a plastic tube with a layer of water around it. 

If you have time, make the Marinara sauce from scratch. I cheated and used some from a jar. I try to get one with the lowest sugar content possible - around 6 grams per serving. I used one with 11 grams today and it was a bit sweet for my taste.

Instructions

Peel eggplant and slice into 1/2 inch rounds. Lightly salt each side of the eggplant slices and place on paper towels, cover with another layer of paper towels. Four eggplants will give you some extra slices to eat before assembling the dish, yummy. Three will give you just enough, but what's the fun in that. Leave to sweat for about twenty minutes.

I peal the eggplant. I don't like how the peal gets tough when coked

Not done yet

Arrange three shallow bowls in a row. Place flour in the first bowl, beaten egg, egg substitute or egg white in the second bowl, and the bread crumbs in the third bowl. I've tried both Panko and Italian bread crumbs. The Panko bread crumbs are low fat and low sodium but a bit plain. Mixing both together gives you a nice crunch and flavor. Cover a large baking pan with aluminium foil and top with a wire rack.

Flour - egg wash - bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place an eggplant slice into the flour, shake off excess flour. Turn, dip, and shake again until all sides of the eggplant slice are covered with a thin coating of flour. Dip the flour coated eggplant slice into the second bowl of beaten egg, turn over to coat other side. A fork will help keep your fingers from accumulating a coating layer. Place the eggplant slice into the third bowl of bread crumbs and shake the bowl a bit to help the crumbs stick. Turn the slice over and coat the other side.

Flour first - the fine grains stick well to the eggplant

Egg wash second - the egg binds to the flour

Crumbs last - the egg can now support the larger bread crumbs

Gently place the coated eggplant slices onto the wire rack. Spray both sides of the slices with olive oil. I use a refillable pampered chef spray bottle. If you don't have a spray bottle, you can use another bowl with a shallow layer of olive oil to quickly dip each side.

Spray with olive oil

Place the pan of eggplant slices into the oven for about thirty minutes. Check after about twenty to make sure they are browning lightly. You can spray them with more olive oil and flip them over if you like. The thick slices of eggplant should start to get spongy, but remain firm. If they get squishy, your final dish will still taste awesome but you'll miss out on the firm bite. I've found that eating one of the eggplant slices after it has cooled a bit is the best way to test them - nom, nom, nom!

Nice and toasty

Cook it too long and the eggplant gets soggy - this was just right.

Now that you have your slices of eggplant ready, you can assemble your dish. Put two or three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the bottom of a Pyrex dish. Then spoon some Marinara sauce on the bottom of the dish, enough to cover it.

Oil layer

Sauce layer

Put a layer of eggplant slices on top of the sauce, then a layer of cheese, and finally more sauce and chopped basil. 

Eggplant layer

Cheese layer

Sauce and basil layer

Repeat with another layer of eggplant, cheese, sauce, basil, and finally cheese.

Put the dish in a 350 degree oven for about thirty minutes, until it gets nice a bubbly and the cheese melts on top.

Ran a bit short on cheese for the top layer.

You should wait until it cools off a bit. The traditional Neapolitan way of eating eggplant Parmigiana is at room temperature. It tastes even better after it sits for several hours or the next day. If you prepare a day in advance, refrigerate and then bring it back completely to room temperature before serving.