EGGPLANT, MOTHERFUCKER!
Here's the recipe for eggplant parm from
Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen. I've not made this one, but everything I've made from her books has been restaurant good.
First, you need to make tomato sauce:
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich wrote:Tomato Sauce
3 pounds ripe fresh plum tomatoes, peeled and seede, or one 35-ounce can peeled Italian tomatoes, seeded and lightly crushed, with their liquid
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup finely shredded peeled carrots
1/4 cup finely chopped celery, including leaves
4 fresh bay leaves, or 2 dried bay leaves
Salt
Crushed hot red pepper
Makes about 3 1/2 cups, enough to dress 6 servings of pasta
Pass the tomatoes through a food mill fitted with the fine disc. Heat the oil in a 2- to 3-quart nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 10 minutes.
Add the food-milled tomatoes and the bay leaves and bring to a boil. Season lightly with salt and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heal so the sauce is at a lively simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. Taste and season with salt and red pepper if necessary.
Now you're ready to make eggplant parm.
Lidia wrote: Eggplant Parmigiana
3 medium eggplants, or 5 or 6 smaller eggplants (about 21/2 to 3 pounds total)
1 tablespoon coarse sea or kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
All-purpose flour for dredging
2 cups fine, dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup vegetable oil, or as needed
1/2 cup olive oil, or as needed
Tomato Sauce (see below)
2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
12 fresh basil leaves
1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese or Italian Fontina cheese, cut into slices 1/3 inch thick
Trim the stems and ends from the eggplants. Remove strips of peel about 1 inch wide from the eggplants, leaving about half the peel intact.. Cut the eggplant lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices and place them in a colander. Sprinkle with the coarse salt and let drain for 1 hour. Rinse the eggplant under cool running water, drain thoroughly, and pat dry.
Whisk the eggs and 1 teaspoon salt together in a 13 x 9 inch baking pan or wide, shallow bowl. Spread the flour and bread crumbs in an even layer in two separate wide, shallow howls or over sheets or wax paper. Dredge the eggplant slices in flour shaking off the excess, Dip the floured eggplant into the egg mixture, turning well to coat both sides evenly. Let excess egg drip back into the pan, then lay the eggplant in the pan of bread crumbs. Turn to coat both sides well with bread crumbs, pressing with your hands until the bread crumbs adhere well to the eggplant.
Pour 1/2 cup each of the olive and vegetable oils into a medium skillet. Heat over medium-high heat until a corner of one of the eggplant slices gives off a lively sizzle when dipped into the oil. Add as many of the eggplant slices as fit without touching and cook, turning once, until well browned on both sides, about 6 minutes. Remove the eggplant to a baking pan lined with paper towels and repeat with the remaining eggplant slices. Adjust the heat as the eggplant cooks to prevent the bits of coating that fall all' the eggplant slices from burning. Add oil to the pan as necessary during cooking to keep the level more or less the same.
Preheat the oven to 375° F. Heat the tomato sauce to simmering, if necessary, in a small saucepan over medium heat. Ladle enough sauce into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish to cover the bottom. Sprinkle with an even layer or grated cheese and top with a layer of fried eggplant, pressing it down gently. Tear a few leaves of basil over the eggplant and ladle about 3/4 cup of the sauce to coat the top evenly. Sprinkle an even layer of grated cheese over the sauce and top with a layer of mozzarella or Fontina, using about one-third of the cheese. Repeat the layering as described above two more times, ending with a top layer of sliced cheese that leaves a border of about 1 inch around the edges of the baking dish. Drizzle sauce around the border of the baking dish and sprinkle the top layer with the remaining grated cheese. Finish with a few decorative streaks or rounds of tomato sauce. Cover the baking dish loosely with aluminum foil and poke several holes in the foil with the tip of a knife. Bake 10 minutes.
Uncover, and continue baking until the top layer of cheese is golden in spots, about 15 minutes. Let rest 10 to 20 minutes, then cut into squares and serve.
Enjoy that!
