We had a virtual debate on this, and I find there is a lot of passionate dissention on this subject (almost like sauce v. gravy).
So here's my take. Let's debate. Tell me how you do yours.
Basic Parmigiana Rules
First of all, I don't think breading eggplant is a good thing. You have to work to reduce the amount of oil that is soaked up by eggplant in the cooking process.
Second, I think properly prepared eggplant stands on it's own and should not be cooked in sauce.
Third, I will use sauce with my Eggplant parm, but not always. Sometimes, I deconstruct and make it with fresh tomatoes.
Basic Eggplant Parmigiana (a la gidiefor)
Start by brining the eggplant. I place a teaspoon of sea salt in 6 cups of cool water in a large bowl and dissolve.
Generally peel eggplant (unless it's very young, small and fresh, in which case leave the skin on) then slice (approximately 1/4'-1/2' thick) and place in the brine water. Place a plate that fits inside bowl on top of the brining eggplant to make sure it's all fully submerged, and even place a weight on the plate if needed. Soak for 20 mins minimum, but not more than 30 mins.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the meantime, drain eggplant, and place in salad spinner, spin and remove as much water as possible. (you should see a brownness to the water if brined properly). Place dewatered eggplant and drizzle a good extra virgin olive oil over the batch remembering you only want a very light coating of oil, and toss eggplant until all is lightly coated (better to add oil if not enough then to have too much).
Take a baking pan, cover with parchment paper and spread eggplant on the parchment paper so it is not overlapping. If you've done this right there should be no pooling of oil on the paper. Then place in center of oven and let it bake at 350 degrees.
Prepare sauce while eggplant is baking. I use two cloves crushed garlic and about ten leaves fresh basil sauteed in olive oil and add crushed canned san marzanos, skin, seeds and centers removed. Cook until it simmers and eggplant is ready to assemble.
Turn eggplant over when it starts to lightly brown (takes roughly 6-8 mins). Bake until other side lightly browns (another 6-8 mins). Remove from oven.
Parmigiana is prepared by placing layer of sauce in serving dish no wider than the widest slice of eggplant. Place in rotation: Slice of eggplant, cover lightly with shredded mozzarella, then sauce, then sprinkle parmigiana, then straddle with next slice of eggplant, then mozzarella, then sauce, then parmigiana, repeated straddled layer after layer until all eggplant has been used and covered and fills platter in an angled line. Sauce should be warm enough to melt mozzarella on it's own.
Let stand until mozzarella is melted, drizzle top of dish with extra virgin olive oil, fresh shredded basil, and parmigiana. Serve in portions or serve with platter and let guests help themselves (using two spoons). Or place on fresh crusty bread in same manner for sandwiches.
Fresh Tomato Variation
If using fresh tomatoes instead of sauce, also use fresh thin sliced mozzarella and alternate eggplant, mozzarella, tomato, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil leaf and repeat, repeat, repeat, etc. Lightly drizzle extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle lightly with parmigiana on top.
love it lightly breaded, but crispy.
You made me want to try it this way. I agree about it tasting like oil too often. I think thats because the heat is too low. I bread mine but I try to fry them in about 1/3" olive oil on at least medium heat quickly so they don't absorb much oil and they drain easier. I put them onto paper towels and lay more pt on top to absorb as much oil as I can before assembling in the baking dish.
please disregard i see it now. ugh, i blame day-drinking.
Jamie Oliver's eggplant parm - ( New Window )
We do an eggplant with breads and fried eggplant. Similar simple red sauce. We also do the same with chicken, frying the cutlets and then sauce and cheese. Fairly traditional and heavily reliant upon the canned crushed tomatoes which I find have the largest element of variation.
We do an eggplant with breads and fried eggplant. Similar simple red sauce. We also do the same with chicken, frying the cutlets and then sauce and cheese. Fairly traditional and heavily reliant upon the canned crushed tomatoes which I find have the largest element of variation.
Larry - I use pretty wide platters to serve it -- I just try not to cover the bottom of the entire platter with sauce -- hence the sauce is laid on the platter in a line not wider than the thickest piece of eggplant.
Link - ( New Window )
a little hard to follow those instructions but looks completely awesome!
A few years back I stumbled on some prepared sliced and breaded eggplant slices at Trader Joe's. Excellent if in a hurry or lazy. A quick bake and you are ready to layer with sauce and cheese. I prefer part skim mozzarella.
Too much cooking especially w lots of sauce breaks of down to mush. . Too many people over cook the eggplant. I peel mine and salt it laying it on paper towels pressed under my cutting boards w my pots and pans to leach out the bitterness. Can’t slice it too thin or too thick.
Thanks for the recipe. I always adjust people’s and this one was interesting
Sounds more like a "meatless Moussaka" than EP. Sounds good.
Several comments, like Matty above I salt and weight the eggplant on towels after slicing, rather than brine it, and leave for 45 min to one hour. That removes most bitterness. I wash the heck out of the eggplant after that too then to remove the salt, or most of it.
I made experiments several times when I was chef at a well regarded Italian Trattoria in Berkeley, regarding peeling. Peeling is IMO a waste of time.
I don't bread, after all the experiments I made breading the eggplant always created the inferior dish. Rather I fry my slices in an evoo/ neutral oil mix after lightly flouring and dipping in seasoned beaten eggs - the standard egg wash treatment. The eggplant absorbs far less oil this way than either breaded or simply floured eggplant does.
And I love EVOO, so I like a noticeable fresh evoo flavor in my EP - I just don't want the dish to be greasy.
I make my own tomato sauce from good crushed canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, evoo and (preferably) fresh herbs, pureed in a blender or in the cooking pot with a blender stick.
I don't like the dish piled too high, and find two eggplant layers to be perfect. However, I do overlap the eggplant slices slightly, to cover up the holes in between the circles of eggplant. I shred a lot of fresh basil into the middle of the dish only, in between the two layers. Ideally it's enough and forms quite the aromatic surprise when one digs in.
I like the slices of eggplant to be 5/8" thick and literally can't imagine 1/4" slices working, but then that's with an egg wash and frying...
Rather than straight parm, I like a blend of parm and Pecorino at about 2:1. Locatelli Pecorino Romano is the standard here in the US, but if you ever get your hands on a Tuscan Pecorino, jump on it!
Lastly, and I know some will consider this heretical, I find EP much better when one substitutes a more flavorful cheese for the mozzarella in the middle level especially! Jarlsberg or any mild nutty "Swiss" style cheese works great in replacing mozz. Currently I am using a Dutch Maasdam from Kroon in the place of "Swiss" style cheese in various dishes that call for that texture and flavor.
How do you get all the slices cooked just right on a baking sheet in the oven? If you avoid undercooking any of them, you pretty much must be overcooking some of them, right?
It's not just a matter of getting the slices all the same thickness, I have noticed, because often the slices cut from nearer to the stem end of the eggplant are tougher and less ripe than the main body and distal slices. When I fry, I'm poking and prodding every slice individual to get them cooked just right.
My Dad, first generation American-Italian who grew-up with NY/Italian Eggplant Parm had some when he came to visit, and agreed it was the best he'd ever eaten.
How do you get all the slices cooked just right on a baking sheet in the oven? If you avoid undercooking any of them, you pretty much must be overcooking some of them, right?
It's not just a matter of getting the slices all the same thickness, I have noticed, because often the slices cut from nearer to the stem end of the eggplant are tougher and less ripe than the main body and distal slices. When I fry, I'm poking and prodding every slice individual to get them cooked just right.
I eye it - in other words keep careful attention to cooking progress -- the thinner slices do cook more than the thicker ones - but I really don't notice it in the assembled dish -
If you make it yourself (though why would you if you're allergic), you should press out the eggplant slices before preparing them (but after brining them if you're following gidie's recipe). Place them in a single layer between paper towels on a plate, then put another plate on top and repeat the layering, finishing with an empty plate on top.
The itchy reaction can often be mitigated (or even eliminated entirely) by getting the fluid out of the slices. There's a very common reaction to eggplant (if undrained) that causes the top of many people's mouths to itch. It's possible that you're very sensitive to the same reaction.
Are you quarantined? Canned chicken like this? My wife goes to the super market once a week to get produce.
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Been eating nothing but pasta, canned chicken and eggs for 2 weeks. Would kill for some fresh produce rn.
Are you quarantined? Canned chicken like this? My wife goes to the super market once a week to get produce.
No we aren't quarantined but not really relishing the idea of going to the supermarket in rockland county.
And its chopped up canned chicken, like canned, for chicken salad.
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In comment 14854370 Prude said:
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Been eating nothing but pasta, canned chicken and eggs for 2 weeks. Would kill for some fresh produce rn.
Are you quarantined? Canned chicken like this? My wife goes to the super market once a week to get produce.
No we aren't quarantined but not really relishing the idea of going to the supermarket in rockland county.
And its chopped up canned chicken, like canned, for chicken salad.
Makes sense, my wife is in healthcare, so she is out working, and we have 3 kids so avoiding grocery stores isn't an option for us.
Stay safe.
I'm going to copy all these recipes/and procedures, before this gets archived.
I grew up in a 'breaded eggplant' family. My mom would always use matzoh meal. I cut the eggplant about 3/8" thick, (almost never salt & drain) bread with flour, eggwash & breadcrumb, (sbp) fried til crisp in a neutral oil, drain on a brown paper bag. I usually do three layers, starting with a little sauce, then the fried eggplant, a light amount of sauce, grated Romano, and mozzarella (I like whole milk, but never fresh). I don't put too much cheese, in the layers, but do cover the top layer completely. I like the edges to not have too much sauce, because I like there to still have some crispy bites in there. In the Summer, I like to add one layer of fried Cubanelle peppers, peeled, and seeded.
Sauce is real simple. 1 large onion, caramelized in EVOO, 1 grated carrot, about 12 cloves of finely minced garlic, red pepper flakes, koshed salt, and one #10 can of good quality tomatoes (crushed). Finish it of with a big handful of fresh basil.
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In comment 14854370 Prude said:
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Been eating nothing but pasta, canned chicken and eggs for 2 weeks. Would kill for some fresh produce rn.
Are you quarantined? Canned chicken like this? My wife goes to the super market once a week to get produce.
No we aren't quarantined but not really relishing the idea of going to the supermarket in rockland county.
I suppose it's definitely understandable that you might prefer to avoid the supermarket, but to ask "how did you get your hands on an eggplant?" is silly. The supermarkets and farmers markets ARE open. It's not nuclear fallout out there.
You can make a strong case for not venturing out any more than is absolutely necessary, but it's not like fresh produce doesn't exist simply because you've decided to factor your risk against it.