Eggplant Parmesan, Italian Comfort Food

Last night I was in a quandary over what to prepare for our evening meal. I’m here in the great white north visiting my fiancé. He had meetings all day so was off with the car while I was at home scratching my head over dinner. Usually I get some bright idea (or not so bright in some cases) about what I’d like to cook and then head off in search of the proper ingredients. Where I live the grocery store is less than a mile away so it’s walking distance should I be so inclined (though I rarely am since that sounds too much like exercise to me). Here, however I would have to make do with what was in the house.

I hadn’t been up here since last May so the ingredients on hand are bachelor ingredients – no offense to you cooking bachelors out there – it’s what my fiancé calls it, I am simply repeating his lame excuse. We had gone to the local famer’s market on Saturday so I knew that everything in the fridge, I had chosen, since it was empty when I arrived. In the fridge was lots of fresh salad fixings, some fresh beets (yuck – he loves them, I do not), leeks, a big fat purple eggplant and 5 kinds of cheese. Ok so I like cheese. The pantry is stocked with dried spaghetti, chicken stock, canned corn and 50 cans of tomatoes. I also located some onions and some herbs. I am saving the leeks for a corn and leek soup I intend to make after we hit the farmer’s market again this weekend so I opted to make the eggplant.

I am not a huge fan of eggplant parmesan mostly because I love eggplant and I find the flavor to get lost in all that cheese and sauce. However, my fiancé had never had eggplant parm before – really??? Do you live under a rock?? OK, he’s German so that could explain it. So I steeled myself and decided to make an eggplant parmesan that I thought I could live with. A dish I have honestly never made before but one which I had seen my Nana make on occasion.

(disclaimer – you have to forgive the quality of the photographs as my camera is in Atlanta and the one on hand is circa 1988 or so)

I started by making a tomato sauce and decided to make a big potful since leftovers will freeze well and then poor, poor fiancé will not have to use condensed tomato soup as a pasta sauce when I’m gone. You can dramatically reduce the amounts accordingly.

3 16 oz cans diced tomatoes (you can use whole or whatever you have on hand)
1 onion chopped
5 slices pancetta, chopped (do not use bacon as it flavors the sauce too much, if you don’t have pancetta, use a little bit of sausage or skip entirely to make a vegetarian sauce)
1/3 bottle red wine
½ tsp crushed hot red pepper
1 TB, dried oregano (for all the herbs, you can use fresh if you have them but triple the amount and add them near the end of cooking so their volatile oils are not lost)
1TB dried basil
1 ½ tsp dried thyme
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Splash worchestershire sauce
Plenty of salt and pepper



For the Sauce

Heat a couple Tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add onions and pancetta and sauté until onions are translucent, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the tomatoes and the dried herbs and reduce heat to medium low. When the tomatoes start to bubble, stir in the wine and bring back to a simmer. Taste and add salt and pepper according to the sweetness or tartness of your particular tomatoes. Reduce heat to simmer, add worchestershire (yes, I mean it) and simmer partially covered for about 3 hours or until reduced to the correct thickness. You can also shorten the cooking time by adding a small can of tomato paste, but I prefer to slow cook the sauce to remove some of the natural tartness without adding sugar – perish the thought! This may seem like a long process but really all you have to do is give the pot a stir now and then and as you are using canned ingredients the prep time is minimal.

Eggplant:

I large ripe eggplant (look for smooth shiny skin that is deep purple and feels firm)
1 ½ c panko
¼ c grated parmesan or romano cheese
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp milk
Flour for dredging
Canola oil for frying

For the Eggplant

Slice the eggplant into rounds about 1/3 inches thick. Lightly salt the rounds and place them into a colander in the sink for about 30 minutes. This will draw out any bitterness. Pat the eggplant dry. Mix panko crumbs with grated cheese in a small high sided dish. Heat oil in a large high-sided fry/sauté pan until very hot but not smoking. Dredge eggplant slices one at a time in flour, shaking off excess and then dip into egg wash and then panko crumbs to form an even coating. Crumbs will not stick to eggplant skin so no worried there. Place on a sheet of wax paper and repeat with each slice. (reserve extra panko crumbs for topping) Fry each slice in the hot oil until more brown than golden and panko is crispy. Do NOT over crown the pan as it will reduce the temperature of the oil and the eggplant will absorb to much. Eggplant seems to love nothing more than a big drink of cool oil but you won’t like it. Drain eggplant on paper towels, turning to drain each side. Eggplant will not be cooked through at this point so no snacking.

Assemble the dish:

Oblong, round or oval oven proof baking dish
2 c shredded mozzarella
6 thin slices of provolone
1 cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spoon a thin layer of sauce into the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange eggplant rounds in the pan, slightly overlapping rounds. I used one eggplant so I had a single layer, which I prefer, but you can use multiple layers if you like. Place provolone cheese in a single layer atop eggplant. Sprinkle with the parm, reserving about ¼ cup for the top. Spread shredded, mozzarella atop and then spoon sauce over all in a thin layer. Top with remaining parmesan cheese and sprinkle with any remaining panko crumbs that you have atop and drizzle with a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil. Bake in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes or until eggplant is cooked through and sauce and cheese are bubbling. Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

You can use more cheese or sauce if you like, but I really prefer not to have a big goopy pile of sauce and cheese since I actually like the taste of eggplant. I also do not completely cover the eggplant with sauce so that I still have some crispy panko coated areas of the eggplant. This was my first time making this dish and I will definitely make it again. Separately frying the eggplant takes a little bit of effort but it is well worth it. I understand that you can opt to oven bake the eggplant first as a way to reduce fat and calories but cannot attest to that method.

Fiancé seemed to like his first taste of eggplant parmesan and maybe it’s good for me that he had never before had it. My version will now be his baseline!