Len's Recipe of the Month - June 2021

 

As the recent pandemic had me experimenting with one new recipe after another, there was always one I resisted.   

Namely eggplant parmagiana.   I had always heard horror stories about how long the prep would take.  For instance, you had to drown the eggplant in salt to sweat out the water for a few hours.   Then the bread crumbs were messy and often resulted in a gummy consistency.  And, oh, yeah...peeling the eggplant.  Ugh.

Well, I was watching America's Test Kitchen and they unearthed a recipe from some restaurant in the Midwest that removed all the complicated steps.   I was all in.  No salt.  No sweat.  No peeling.  No bread crumbs.

So how do you avoid that?   Simply by slicing the eggplant very thin.   Perhaps in slices of 1/4 inch.  That removes the need for the sweating.   So you take two medium eggplants and slice them up to about 20 or so slices of that size.

Put aside the slices.   In two pans, set up your flour and eggs.   In the flour mixture, add salt, pepper, and some grated parmesan cheese.   As you will see, the cheese star of this dish will not be parmesan, but pecorino cheese.

Heat up a large skillet with some EVO.

Dredge each slice first in the flour, being carefully to shake off the excess.  Then dip into the mixture of three beaten eggs.   Add to the pan.   You will need to do this in batches.   Depending upon the size of your skillet, do four to five slices at a time.  You will want to brown both sides, two minutes each.

When all the slices have been fried, grab a casserole pan.   You could always make your own sauce, but I used a jar of Rao's marinara, which is the best jar gravy you can buy anywhere.  Spoon some sauce on the top of the pan and begin to assemble four stacks of eggplant slices.   Spoon some sauce on top of each layer and sprinkle liberal amount of grated pecorino.  Essentially, you are assembling a lasagna but substituting eggplant for pasta.

When you are done layering all the slices, cover with the last of your sauce and then cover with four slices of mozzarella cheese.   Your oven should be pre-heated to 325 degrees.  Bake the casserole for 30 minutes.   Then turn the broiler on for the last five minutes.

Let it cool and then serve.   And share how easy this was to your guests.   Or let them think you slaved in the kitchen for hours.

Dinner last night:  Taylor ham on English Muffin.