eggplant parmesan

We are embarrassingly far into January to try and bring up holiday dishes, but I did promise Christmas food and then never followed up on it after two latke postings. That hardly seems fair. The holidays have a certain magic for making time/plans disappear, don't they? Now I know that technically this is not a "Christmas Dish", but it always makes me think of any holiday with my Mom's side of the family since it's one thing my grandmother knows for a fact I love to eat. I don't know what it is (maybe because you can't have meat on Friday but seafood is allowed?), but I don't think there's been a year when someone hasn't said in a disappointed voice, "oh you don't even eat fish?! that's sad..." while passing the clams casino to the next person. Yes its a tragedy, but I soldier on.

Traditionally of course, you are supposed to fry the eggplant first in a batter of eggs and breadcrumbs or flour, but in the past few years my Mom has started simply baking the eggplant instead of frying it to make the dish a little more healthy. This time I tried roasting in the oven first and it gave the eggplant such a nice flavor that you don't miss the batter at all.

Following my New Years resolution on sauces, I decided to make the tomato sauce from scratch this time. Well, I guess it's not exactly from scratch since I used canned tomatoes, but it's a start. Next baby step: fresh tomatoes.

Between prep for the eggplant and making sauce I wouldn't recommend cooking this on a work night unless you're willing to eat late. The good news is despite being time consuming, it's very simple. Just make sure you're not hungry and trying to pull it together at 6pm, not that I did that...

ingredients:

1 large can (28 oz) tomatoes in sauce
3 garlic cloves chopped
one small onion finely chopped
3 tb olive oil
rosemary, salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

2 medium eggplant
grated mozzarella cheese
fresh basil

Peel and slice eggplant into coins about 1/2 inch thick. Lightly salt on both sides and layer in between paper towel on a plate.

Weight down eggplant slices with heavy cans, pots, etc. Allow eggplant to drain like this for one hour. If you're thinking "why the hell am I doing this?" the answer is: water from the eggplant is not only bitter, but will make your dish soggy. Also you can feel justified in hanging on to that jar of cranberry sauce from two years ago by putting it to good use.

In a medium sized pot fry onions and garlic in olive oil until clear

Stir in can of tomatoes and season with spices. Don't be afraid of the sugar-- its great for sauce.

Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for at least 40 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep from burning and smash up any large chunks of tomato with your spoon as they soften.

preheat oven to 450

Lightly brush eggplant slices on both sides with olive oil. Bake in oven for 10 minutes on each side.

Sprinkle a little olive oil in the bottom of a large baking pan. Spread thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom, add a layer of eggplant, and then shredded mozzarella. Continue layering like this until you've used up the last of your eggplant.

Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling. Serve with fresh basil.

Also to keep with the vintage photo theme-- here is a lovely one of my Mom.