An Italian dish my husband and I will ALWAYS order at our favorite Italian restaurants. We have only recently gotten into eggplants, and you will see the various recipes we’ve tried and have become so loyal too. The fluffiness of the eggplants sunk into melted cheese is so heart warming and surprising very light! This can easily pass as appetizer for dinner or a quick lunch. I have slipped some lasagna sheets at times when this is the only dish for lunch… just so it gives that extra feeling of “fullness”.
Eggplant Parmesan
2016-06-12
: Up to 8
: 2 hr
: 1 hr
: 3 hr
: Medium
The only demanding part of this recipe is the preparation of the eggplant. Other than that, it's pretty straight- forward.
Ingredients
- 2 large eggplants
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 TB oregano
- 1 TB fresh thyme
- 1 tp salt
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 onions, diced
- 6 garlic, crushed
- 1 TB red pepper
- 1 TB sugar
- 1 tomato, diced
- 1 pack tomato paste and 1 pack Pomi
- Salt and spice to taste
- 1 1/2 cup mozzarella
- 1 cup parmesan
- 1 handfuls fresh basil leaves, washed and drained
- 2 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
Directions
- Step 1 Wash and cut eggplants into thick rectangular slices
- Step 2 Sprinkle with salt and place in a pan with paper napkins on top and below with a heavy pan on top for 1H30M This will eliminate bitterness
- Step 3 Preheat oven at 350 degrees C (170 degrees F)
- Step 4 Prepare 3 bowls- one for (flour, oregano, salt, thyme mix)- one for eggs- and one for breadcrumbs
- Step 5 Dip eggplants into flour mix, than into eggs, and then into breadcrumbs, deep fry
- Step 6 For the sauce, fry onions and garlic in olive oil and gradually stir in red pepper, sugar, tomato, tomato paste and Pomi, and salt and spice, keep the sauce chunky (not too water and not too thick, add 2TB water if too thick)
- Step 7 Layer sauce, basil, eggplant, mozzarella, parmesan, sauce, eggplant, mozzarella, parmesan
- Step 8 Cook for 35 min
- Step 9 Garnish with fresh basil leaves before serving
