Eggplant Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan is another favorite Italian pasta dish, made in the same way as below, but you use pounded chicken cutlets instead of eggplant.

Eggplant, (younger, smaller fruits will have less tough skins)
Dry fine bread crumbs, add salt and Italian seasonings if desired
Beaten egg
A little milk
Butter, or olive oil if preferred
Mozarella cheese, sliced
Spaghetti sauce (Marinara sauce)
Linguine, cooked
Parmesan cheese

Wash the eggplant. If the skin is tough, peel strips of the skin off from the stem end to the bottom end in a stripe fashion leaving some of the skin on. The skin on younger eggplants will not be as tough. Slice the eggplant into slices around 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick.

Note: Bitterness has largely been bred out of modern varieties of eggplant, which is one reason why salting eggplant before cooking isn’t strictly necessary these days.

Beat the egg(s) in a bowl that you will use for dipping the eggplant and add a little bit of milk to thin it. Beat together. Put the breadcrumbs in another bowl you will use for coating the eggplant.

Heat several tablespoons of butter in a heavy frying pan (2 - 3 tablespoon or so depending on the size of your pan); the eggplant and breading absorbs quite a bit and you want your breadcrumbs crisp, not dry and burnt. Once the pan is hot, dip the eggplant slices in the egg mixture, then in the bread crumbs so they are well covered. Fry over medium heat until both sides are well browned and the eggplant is cooked through. You will probably need to add more butter when flipping the eggplant. Fry in batches. Scrape out any large bits of bread crumbs and add more butter before adding the next batch of eggplant to the pan.

Note: Eggplant is one vegetable for which slight undercooking will not work. It must be completely cooked through until it’s meltingly soft, smooth, and creamy.

Place each slice of eggplant individually on a baking sheet; do not overlap. Cover each with a thin slice of mozarella cheese. Place in a 350 degree oven and bake just until the cheese is melted.

To serve, place some linguine on a plate and top with hot spaghetti sauce. Place a slice or two of eggplant on top of this and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

FMM Notes: Parmesan cheese can be added to the breading mixture. Most recipes have you bake the eggplant in the tomato sauce. I find this makes the breading on the eggplant soggy and prefer to bake the eggplant without the sauce.

You can fry the eggplant (do not melt cheese on top), refrigerate it, and finish the dish the next night. I do this when I have more than will be eaten the night it is made.