A GREAT MEATLESS GO TO DISH

Meatless nights in my house rarely occurred because I was married to one of the biggest carnivores of all times.  Irwin was a strictly "meat and potatoes" man; throw in a half a dozen slices of bread and it was the perfect meal for him. A real knife and fork man, if you know what I mean.

He always ate a lot of bread with his meals in order to make up for the quality of the food.  In fact one of his top five all time favorite dishes were mashed potatoes; add any kind of meat to that and you had a five star meal, according to him.  He also loved Italian food.  Before we got together he spent many nights at the local pizza parlor having dinner: eggplant Parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna - all of his favorites.  These are just a few with eggplant being the leader of the pack.  Throw in a loaf of Italian bread and he was your best friend for life.

So when I wanted to make a meal without meat, I usually turned to an Italian dish.  I could have fed him with meatless pasta dishes forever, but you know what they say: variety is the spice of life (and I was his variety and dessert).  So every once in a while I would make a meatless dish from a vegetable.  It also helped that he loved - not liked, but loved - eggplant.  Take the eggplant, smother it in sauce, and cover it in cheese on a fresh loaf of Italian bread, and you had a friend for life.  I mean, what could be bad? The meal had all his favorite elements: eggplant, tomato sauce, cheese and bread.  He was in Italian food heaven every time I made him eggplant Parmesan.  Eggplant Parmesan became my number one go-to dish when I wanted to have a night without meat. Lets be honest here, who doesn't like something warm gooey and covered in cheese.... 

Here’s a tip which will make frying the eggplant a breeze.  When I bread and fry things like these slices of eggplants, I make a little assembly line that leads from the flour to the eggs, onto the breadcrumbs, and right into the pan of hot oil. Placing three rectangular cake pans side by side next to the stove works nicely; there is very little cleanup afterwards, but any container wide enough to hold several slices of eggplant at a time will work just as well.  Make sure that after you take the eggplant out of the oil you place it on a paper towel, and be sure to salt the slices.

EGGPLANT PARMESAN

INGREDIENTS

3 medium eggplants, (about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds total)
1 tablespoon sea salt, or kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
all-purpose flour, for dredging
2 cups plain breadcrumbs
freshly ground pepper
½ cup vegetable oil, or as needed
½ cup olive oil, or as needed
Tomato sauce
2 cups Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into slices 1/3-inch thick
12 fresh basil leaves

DIRECTIONS

 

Trim the stems and ends from the eggplants. Remove the strips of peel about 1 inch wide from the eggplants, leaving about half the peel intact. Cut the eggplant lengthwise into1/2 inch thick slices and place them in a colander. Sprinkle with 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 of salt together in a 13x9 inch baking pan, or a wide, shallow bowl. Spread the flour and breadcrumbs in an even layer in two separate wide, shallow bowls or over sheets of 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 breadcrumbs. Turn to coat both sides well with breadcrumbs, pressing with your hands until the breadcrumbs adhere well to the eggplant.

Pour 1/2 cup of 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 that fit without touching and cook, turning once, until it's well browned on both sides - about 6 minutes. Move the eggplant to a baking pan lined with paper towel and repeat with the remaining eggplant slices. Adjust the heat as the eggplant cooks to prevent the bits of coating that fall off 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 degrees F. Heat the tomato sauce to simmering, if necessary, in a small saucepan over medium heat. Ladle enough sauce into a 9x13 inch baking dish to cover the bottom. Sprinkle with an even layer of 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, using about 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat the layering as described above two more times, ending with a top layer of cheese that leaves a border of about one 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 for 30 minutes.

Uncover and continue baking until the top layer of cheese is golden in spots - about 15 minutes. Let rest for 10 to 20 minutes, then cut into squares and serve.