Eggplant Parm that Real Italians Love!

Eggplant Parmesan is one of the yummiest dishes I have made. I'm not sure where I learned to make it but remember seeing it for the first time in Little Italy in NYC. Then my husband raved about how much he liked it but that it took a long time to make. I googled Martha Stewart's eggplant basics and got a general idea of how to prepare eggplant before cooking, then I armed myself with some courage because it takes courage to cook an Italian meal for a real Italian when you have only a faint idea of how to make it based off of the advice of a felon and NYC. In any case, the man in charge loved it, and even more surprisingly I got a huge compliment from his mom, "Salute! Tu sei proprio Italiana!" She was even more shocked that I saw it first in NYC and not Italy. I recently had the opportunity to make it again and it came off super good again, crunchy eggplant, gooey cheese and lots of thick sauce to fork your way through to a happy belly.

Einstein argued that if you know how to do something well you should be able to explain it easily.

The easy definition for Eggplant Parm is this: breaded deep fried eggplant then baked in tomato sauce with layers of mixed cheeses and browned ground beef.

 It is like lasagna but substituting fried eggplant for the pasta sheets. The more detailed step-by-step explanation is as follows! :)

Eggplant Parm that Real Italians Love!

Prep time: 40 min
Baking time: 45 min
Serves 8 people
Suggested beverages: Coke or Pinot Noir

Items needed

One frying pan

Fork (to turn the frying eggplant)

Cutting Board

Small cutting knife

Medium baking dish (preferably aluminum)

Sheet of aluminum foil 

5 dinner size plates (for the assembly line)

Paper towels

Ingredients

2 eggplants the size of a small American football (go Ravens!)

1 pound (half kilo) ground beef

1 container (16 oz) plain tomato sauce

2 eggs

1 or 2 cups plain egg crumbs

salt

Frying oil

2 cloves garlic

1 cup chopped mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded or in shaved pieces

1 cup shredded Parm cheese

Lots of love

Uova

Carne

Formaggio

Aglio

An old apron doesn't hurt. It keeps you from getting splattered with so many sauces and oil around.

Steps:

 Eggplant steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 F or around 200 C.

2. Slice eggplant in half inch slices.

This sort of looks like a killer whale

 Put one layer of eggplant on a plate and drizzle with salt. Cover with a paper towel to absorb moisture. Make layers this way till you finish the eggplant.

Eggplant sauna

3. Heat the frying oil while you prepare the cooking assembly line.

4. Line up 4 plates: One with the sliced eggplant, one with your 2 beaten eggs, one with bread crumbs and one empty where you will place your breaded eggplant.

Better than Henry Fords Assembly line!

5. Dip the raw eggplant in beaten egg. Lay the gooey eggy eggplant over the breadcrumbs and cover thoroughly on both sides. Place on the empty plate.

6. Carefully dip the breaded eggplant in the hot oil to fry. Add as many slices as will fit. Flip the sheets of eggplant when the sides turn a copper color of brown (about 3 min).

Fat free food!

7. Transfer well-fried eggplant to your 5th plate when done. Keep frying the eggplant till you are done.

Also great as a snack

8.When you are all done stick your assembly line plates in the sink to make space for the next steps.

Sauce Steps

1. Heat a large pan on medium heat with a drop of oil. 

2. Add 2 garlic cloves and ground beef.

 Cook the ground beef till lightly brown. Remove the garlic cloves after the meat is done cooking.

Pucker up

3. Add half of the tomato sauce. Fill the remaining amount of tomato sauce with water and shake the bottle to mix. 

4. Stir the tomato and meat mix and turn the stove off.

5. Chop your mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and set aside.

Yum, yum, yum

Baking steps

1. Take your baking container and pour some of the tomato sauce from your bottle in the bottom, just enough to cover it. Layer this bottom layer with fried eggplant slices.

The best of both worlds

2. Top this fried eggplant with ground beef and sauce then cheese. Make layers like this and finish the top one with plain fried eggplant.

Whoever thought of this was a genius

Cover the last layer with shredded parm cheese.

That's love

3. Cover the baking dish loosely with your aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes covered. Uncover after 30 min and bake for an additional 15 min. to melt the shredded cheese on top.

4. Serve hot and enjoy!

Get it girl

The eggplant parm can also be frozen after being cooked. So if you find that you made too much, just let it cool, put in a Tupperware and plop in the freezer for a rainy day.