Note: My Eggplant Parmesan is NOT a vegetarian meal. It is a wonderful blend of Italian meatballs, sausage, cheese, eggplant, and home made sauce.
4 Medium/Large Firm Eggplant
4 Eggs – beaten with a little water
3 cups Italian seasoned bread crumb
Kosher Salt
1 cup Olive Oil
1 cup Vegetable Oil
Left-over meatballs (4), left over Italian sausage (3), and about two cups of left over spaghetti sauce.
½ lb sliced provolone cheese
4 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese
Peel the eggplant and slice them a little more than ¼ inch thick.
Lay the sliced eggplant out on a large platter and generously salt them with kosher salt. Layer the slice and salt them until all of them are sliced and salted. Let them set for about an hour. A lot of dark liquid will come out of the eggplant. Be sure and drain the liquid.
After an hour, rinse all of the eggplant under cold running water, and then pat them all dry.
In a medium bowl, beat 4 eggs with a tablespoon of water. Pour out 2 cups of seasoned bread crumbs onto a large plate. You may need to use more bread crumbs or eggs depending on the size of your eggplant.
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
On a large sheet pan (it helps to have two pans) blend the olive oil and the vegetable oil.
Dip sliced eggplant in egg and then in the bread crumbs and place on the oiled sheet pan. Do this until the sheet pan is full. If you have another pan, do the same process.
Bake the eggplant until golden brown on both sides (about 10 minutes each side). When done, lay the fried eggplant on a large platter lined with paper towel to drain the excess oil. Put paper towel between layers of eggplant to ensure proper drain.
Repeat this until all of the eggplant has been fried and let them cool a bit.
In the meantime, using a fork or potato masher, break up the meatballs and sausage with some sauce. Then add the rest of the sauce and mix.
In 9 X 9 baking dish – spread some sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.
Line the pan with the first layer of eggplant. Next put down three slices of provolone cheese and a little of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Next, spoon on some of the meat/sauce mixture. Repeat these steps until the baking dish is full, or you’ve used up all of the eggplant. Top with any remaining sauce and cheese.
Bake –covered (I use a sheet of parchment paper covered with aluminum foil) for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
(ok, it’s not a perfect picture, I had to try some!!)
My family loves to make eggplant sandwiches using Portuguese Rolls. Sometimes I will cook angel hair pasta and top with a nice square of eggplant parmesan and extra sauce.
Enjoy. If you have questions, write me at dadcooks at reciperedux dot com.
Dad Cooks @ Recipe Redux 