My wife tells me that I am “picky” picky about my groceries, picky about restaurants on that rare occasion that we eat out, and picky about how things are prepared. Well after over 30 years in the food business, I reserve the right to be picky and I am very picky about my eggplant parm! So I have a bit of love, hate relationship with this dish. I love to eat it but I hate making it! But there are just those times when a girl is craving her own fabulous eggplant and I have to make it. I tend to make it in small batches because it is such a pain (unless you have a kitchen pal to help). I never order it when I go out because ultimately I am highly disappointed, too thick, too slimy, the sauce is watery, and way too much gloppy cheese on the top. I like it thin, crisp, and not over cheesed. As with most dishes I make, I do not have a recipe but rather a process that I will happily share with you.
The Sauce: Check out my blog post of April 13 and you will find Classic Marinara, not my recipe but always the one I use. For eggplant, I usually at least double if not triple it because eggplant takes a lot of sauce. And you simply cannot ever have too much red sauce!
The Slicing: Using a very sharp serrated knife I slice the eggplant very thin, I do have a great slicer but it lives in the basement and I’m usually too lazy to bring it up! I layer the eggplant on a sheet pan lined with paper towels and liberally salt it. I usually weigh it down with another sheet pan, (you don’t have to do this) a little side note here: this process was taught to me by my lifelong bestie Donna Parisi Etkin’s mom, Bert Parisi. Mrs. P made the best eggplant parm ever and she swore this was her secret! The combo of salt and pressure “sweats” or takes a lot of the moisture out of the eggplant, making it way crispier. I let the eggplant sit for at least a couple of hours, I have even left it overnight and fried it in the morning.
The Batter & Frying: For this, I use the traditional egg wash and breadcrumbs, I like to make my own bread crumbs but store-bought will certainly do. I like the finer breadcrumbs because they seem to adhere to the eggplant better. I also season my breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and grated cheese. The oil needs to be hot and I “flash fry” on each side just to get a little color, then drain excess oil on a paper towel.
The Layering: I begin with sauce, a layer of eggplant, and then I sprinkle with a mixture of parmesan and romano cheeses, repeat until all eggplant is layered, top with more sauce and cheese. No gloppy mozzarella for me! Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.
