Eggplant Parmesan

Here's a great way to make eggplant parmesan with loads of flavor and minimal effort. You probably have most ingredients on hand, and best of all, your don't have to soak and scrub a giant baking dish.
Prep Time1 hrCook Time30 minsTotal Time1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

For the Eggplant
 1 Medium-Sized Eggplant
 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
 Fine Sea Salt, as needed
 Ground Black Pepper, as needed
 3 Large Eggs
 Frying Oil, as needed for frying
 8 oz sliced, Low-Moisture, Whole-Milk Mozzarella
 ¼ cup grated Parmesan Cheese
 Homemade Tomato Sauce (recipe follows)
For The Tomato Sauce
 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
 ½ cup Yellow Onion, finely diced
 1 tbsp Fresh Garlic, minced
 28 oz Canned, Crushed Tomatoes

Directions

Prepare the Dish

Remove the green cap and cut a little bit off of the bottom of the eggplant. Slice it lengthwise into 1/4" pieces. Reserve the eggplant and set up the breading station.

Breading Station

Grab two large bowls and place them side-by-side. Add the measured amount of all-purpose flour to the first bowl and season it with fine salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add the eggs to the second bowl. Whisk them until the yolks and whites are total mixed together.

Breading and Frying the Eggplant

Grab a large fry pan. Add enough fry oil so it's about 1/4" deep. Place the pan over medium-high heat until the oil is around 325°F to 350°F in temperature.

Lay the sliced eggplant out on a sheet pan and season both sides of each piece with a little bit of salt.

Working with one slice at a time, coat the eggplant with seasoned flour, Knock off any excess flour that's clinging to the slice, then dip it into the whisked egg. Make sure the entire slice is coated. Lift it up and let the excess egg drip off of the eggplant, then gently place it into the hot oil.

A side note: You're probably wondering why I didn't salt and press the eggplant slices like most recipes suggest. Back in the day, this was a step taken to remove bitterness from the eggplant. Nowadays, garden variety eggplants that are found in your grocers have had the bitterness bred right out of it.

The only thing you'll achieve by salting and pressing now, will be a marginal improvement on texture, and the eggplants ability to absorb slightly less oil while frying. I prefer to skip this step and save some time.

Fry the eggplant until golden brown on each side, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer the slices to a baking rack to rest while you finish frying the remaining eggplant. The entire frying process shouldn't take more than 10 minutes or so.

Build and Bake the Parmesan

Grab the sliced mozzarella. Alternate layers of the fried eggplant and some slices of cheese to form the parmesan. Use three to four pieces of eggplant per stack. One eggplant should provide you with two individual eggplant parm.

Note: The slicing side of a box grater is a much better option than trying to slice this cheese with a knife.

Place the parmesan on a sheet pan and bake them for 10-15 minutes in a pre-heated 350°F oven. When ready, the mozzarella cheese in the center of the parmesan should be nice and melty.

Note: Heat up the tomato sauce (recipe provided) while the eggplant is baking.

To finish: Top the fried/baked eggplant with a ladle of sauce along with a healthy dose of grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

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