Venturing into the Unknown World of Eggplant Parmesan

I have never bought or cooked with an eggplant. I am not even sure if I have ever eaten one. I am sure I have, it has just not left an impression upon my mind. So I got one from my bountiful basket and decided to make eggplant parmesan. I bribed Anne into coming over and eating it if she would help me staple my syllabi, which I somehow managed to not to have stapled when I turned them in for copies. She gave the eggplant parmesan rave reviews, and I gave her stapling 2 thumbs up! I made my marinara, adding fresh basil, rosemary and oregano and boiling some fresh tomatoes and peeling them and adding them to canned whole tomatoes and fire roasted diced tomatoes and pureed them all together with the fresh herbs and sauteed onion, garlic, celery, carrots, mushrooms, peppers. I used big slices of mozzarella and plenty of freshly grated parmesan. So FUN!!! Bon Appetite!!

Eggplant Parmesan: Parmigiana di Melanzane

Ingredients

• 2 pounds (about 2 medium-sized) eggplant
• Salt
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs, seasoned with 1/4 chopped fresh basil leaves and 1/4 cup parmesan
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 pound ball fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Wash and towel dry the eggplant. Slice the eggplant horizontally about 1/4-inch thick. Place the slices in a large colander, sprinkle with salt and set aside to rest about 30 minutes. Drain and rinse the eggplant and dry on towels.
In a saute pan, heat the extra-virgin olive oil until just smoking. Press the drained eggplant pieces into the seasoned bread crumb mixture and saute until light golden brown on both sides. Repeat with all of the pieces. On a cookie sheet lay out the 4 largest pieces of eggplant. Place 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce over each piece and place a thin slice of mozzarella on top of each. Sprinkle with Parmigiano and top each with the next smallest piece of eggplant, then sauce then mozzarella. Repeat the layering process until all the ingredients have been used, finishing again with the Parmigiano. Place the pan in the oven and bake until the top of each little stack is golden brown and bubbly, about 15 minutes.

Sara’s Marinara Sauce

3 Tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

½ onion chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

½ bell pepper chopped

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

¼  minced fresh basil (but I often do more…depends on my mood)

½ tsp oregano and thyme

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp sugar

Dash of chili peppers

Cook the oil, onion, bell pepper and garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes.  Puree tomatoes in a blender. I add the basil in and pulse them a few times in blender.   Add tomatoes to saucepan with garlic.  Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, 15-20 minutes.

Stir in the sugar and spices.  Season with salt to taste.