Email to Debbie Bruce      

Eggplant Parmigiana

Source of Recipe

Modified from Eleanora's Kitchen (see link below)


Recipe Introduction

Level 1 ~ Pro/Fat & Veggies ~ Another great Eggplant recipe. If you click on the link below, she's got a picture. I made this the first time using Eleanora's Marinara Sauce. The next time, I simply used Classico brand Marinara Sauce - quite a time saver!

List of Ingredients

3 medium size eggplants
3 cups of light olive oil or vegetable oil
**2 cups of flour ** (** see notes below)
**3 cups of unseasoned breadcrumbs ** (season with dry
parsley and dry basil flakes)
1 teaspoons dry basil flakes
1 teaspoons dry parsley flakes
14 eggs
1 & 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tablespoons imported oregano
1/2 pound dry mozzarella
fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Marinara sauce (recipe follows)

** ofcourse these ingredients are funky for SSing, so please see my notes on how I omitted these.


ELEANORA'S MARINARA SAUCE

3 tablespoons of extra-virgin oil
1 large onion - finely diced
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 jars of pure plum tomatoes (or 3 cans of plum tomatoes) (use blender to smooth)
1 jar of puree tomato (or 1/2 can tomato paste for thickness)
1 teaspoon salt
5 basil leaves (chopped)




Recipe

Directions for Eggplants:

Begin by washing, peeling and cutting eggplant in a vertical form, 1/4 inch thick.

Beat your eggs into a bowl with cheese adding a sprinkle of black pepper. Dip each slice, first into the flour shaking off excess flour, now into the egg batter. Lightly coat eggplant with seasoned breadcrumbs and let stand for 10 minutes. (this will allow the breadcrumbs to absorb some of the egg batter.)

Prepare a frying pan with 3 cups of vegetable oil and heat until oil is very hot but not burning. Place your battered eggplant and fry on each side for approximately 3 minutes to a golden color. Place your fried eggplant on top of paper towel to absorb all excess oil.

Deb’s notes: I dipped the eggplant in grated (dry/powdery like Kraft) parmesan cheese. Then I dipped it into the egg (I used 10 eggs), 1 cup of grated fresh Romano cheese and pepper. I let them sit on waxed paper for the 10 minutes. Fried as directed above. When I fried them, I sprinkled on basil & parsley to each slice.

Also - I only used enough olive oil to coat the pan nicely, not the 3 cups that the recipe called for.
_________________________________________________________

For Marinara Sauce:

Prepare your marinara sauce for eggplant into a saucepan. Add 2 tbl. spoon virgin olive oil, garlic, chopped onion-very fine, and saute until onions are translucent. Now add tomatoes, salt and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place some sauce (1 cup) into a baking pan and begin to layer the eggplant adding a sprinkle of oregano and 1 tsp. pecorino romano cheese and small amount (1/3 cup) of shredded mozzarella - begin again layering eggplant, sauce (1 1/4 cup) and oregano and grated cheese and shredded mozzarella. Now cover with foil and bake at preheated oven 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.

You can now remove from oven, add the mozzarella topping and bake for additional 8-10 minutes until cheese has melted. Let it stand for approximately 15-20 minutes to cool and its ready to serve.
_ _ _ _ _

* Deb’s notes: I used 2 cans (35 oz each) Cento brand Italian peeled tomatoes (plum). I bought these at Albertson’s (yellow can). I used 1 can (28 oz) Cento brand tomato puree (Albertson’s). Add the basil the last 5 minutes of cooking. I used McCormick ‘Mediterranean Oregano Leaves’ (Albertson’s). This made a 'blander' sauce - but maybe that's to let the flavor of the eggplant come through, I just wanted you to know though. I used 3 medium eggplants and this made a 10"x15” pan full. When I layer it, I lay on the eggplant and sprinkle on the basil and parsley - then sauce - oregano - Romano cheese - then mozzarella. I had to bake it for one hour, then added the mozzarella cheese on top. This made more sauce than I needed, so I froze the leftover sauce.

Next time I'll simply use jarred Classico brand - this was a lot of work, although it is delicious! The jarred sauce will definitely cut way down on the prep time.

I watched Eleanora make this on TV and she said to choose firm, shiny eggplants that are “light” in weight. If they’re too heavy this means that they’re loaded with seeds which is what makes them bitter.