Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Eggplant saywaht!?


Ok. I have tried so many new recipes right before Easter, and on Easter. I guess that I will just have to start at the beginning, posting according to occurrence. Starting on the night before Easter. Eggplant Parmesan. After making this, I was amazed at how great it tasted, was it possible that something named "eggplant" could taste so good?
Yes, my good friends Bob and Mike did not want me to make dinner. I'm not crazy hehe. By the picture above, you probably thought that I lost my marbles (did I have any to begin with?), but rest assured I am OK. I saw Peters eggplant on his blog, and thought to myself that I should give it a try. So when perusing the veggie isle, I saw those purple guys. I know this is completely random, but I think that eggplants feel like a beluga whale, of a dolphin or something, which kinda creeps me out.I picked them up, and decided to make them tonight. When I read through the directions, after committing to make the recipe I realized how intricate the directions were! Thats ok. I love a good challenge.I had to use my mandoline to cut it even. Then what baffled me was that you had to set them out, sprinkle them with coarse salt, and let them like drain their liquid. There goes my counter space. . .












Yes, my counter is a cluttered mess TAKEN OVER BY EGGPLANTS! You can see the bottles of vitamins and my Snapple white tea that I was drinking. I definitely got my hands full. Then you had to individually bread them, and pan fry them.I didn't actually fry them, more like crisp them in a little oil in the pan. I'm a health nut, sorta like my family, but probably more. Which really doesn't coincide with my blog, because I love love love to bake.
Then you make the sauce, and layer your stuff.Then to go along with this amazing dinner, I made homemade bread. I told you I had my hands full. . . I decided to take a short cut and just make the turtle bread, but shape it in a loaf for convenience. Then you take the dinner out of the oven. Wile the smell permeates the house.I wanted to take a picture of an individual slice for you to see, and I did, but it just didn't do the dinner justice. Plus everybody in the kitchen was staring at me like I was insane as I photographed our meal. Lol.

Eggplant Parmesan
from Kalofagas


2 large eggplants, sliced lenghtwise to 1/2 in. thickness
coarse sea salt

1 can of whole plum tomatoes, hand crushed

3 Tbsp. olive oil

3 anchovy filletss, chopped
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs

2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk

sunflower oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

grated Mozzarella
grated Parmesan


  1. Cut the ends of your eggplant off and then using a mandoline, cut the eggplants lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices. Lay the slice out on a tray and sprinkle each slice with some coarse salt. Allow the bitter juices to leech for 40 minutes.
  2. In the meantime, Place a skillet on the stove over medium-high heat and add your olive oil add your olive oil and anchovy fillets and saute for 3 minutes to soften and perfume the oil.
  3. Add your onions and garlic and lowert to medium-low and saute for 10 minutes to soften. Now add the tomato sauce, salt and pepper to taste and simmer until the sauce is nice and thick. Reserve.
  4. Wipe the excess salt and moisture from your eggplant with kitchen towels. Now set up your dipping stations of eggplant slices, a large bowl of egg/milk mixture and your breadcrumbs. Get another large skillet on the stove and throw on enough sunflower (1/2 inch) oil over medium-high heat.
  5. If your cooking on your own, pre-dredge your eggplant so that you may pay full attention to frying the batches of eggplant. If you have help, have the other person do the dredging and other to do the frying. Dip the eggplant in egg/milk mixture, then the breadcrumbs and fry on both side until golden brown. Fry in batches and reserve on paper towels. Discard the sunflower oil.
  6. Preheat your oven to 400F (middle rack) and commence assembly of your eggplant parmesan.
  7. Grease a 14" X 12" baking dish and spread some tomato sauce on the bottom. Now place a layer of eggplant, some sauce, scatter some basil, grated Mozzarella and Parmesan. Continue layering these ingredients until your you've reached your fourth and last layer of eggplant and pour over the remaining sauce, basil and grated Parmesan.
  8. Cover the baking dish loosely with aluminum foil and bake for approx. 20 minutes and then allow it to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

26 comments:

Peter M said...

So...I take it you liked it? lol

Jessie, you cook better than many who have families to feed, you go girl!

I'm glad everyone liked the meal and now that you've made it, you can add your own twists and make it Jessy's eggplant parmesan.

daphne said...

hehee.. Eggplant taking over your kitchen huh?
That looks amazing. I bet everyone can't wait to dig their fork and spoon in.

Cannelle Et Vanille said...

Wow... that is a kitchen FULL of eggplant! But the final dish looks so good... breaded eggplant, nothing better than that!

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

What crazyness. I was just discussing eggplant parmesan earlier and how I wanted to make it but a healthier version than normal. This looks like a lot of work but it sure seems worth it. Great pictures! Thanks for the recipe, I didn't have one yet.

- The Peanut Butter Boy

michael, claudia and sierra said...

hey... that was a GREAT post. really fun and well written... ! keep up the amazing work and in 15 years you'll be super famous and we, your fellow bloggers - will all be just plain OLD.

Anonymous said...

I love the first eggplant picture! And this actually looks really good, even though I'm not a huge eggplant fan. Maybe I'll have to give it another go...

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Good for you for having your kitchen taken over by eggplant Jessie.It's like that cult movie about the killer tomatoes:D Glad you enjoyed it as well:D I would trust anything that Peter made to be delicious.

giz said...

Now aren't you glad someone didn't yell FOOD FIGHT when you had the eggplant everywhere??? You did a really great job and like Peter said - you go girl!!!

I also like your eggplant people - you could do a food cartoon around them.

Pixie said...

Great work on your first eggplant parmesan- it's my favourite veg!

Lori Lynn said...

Great post, Jessy! I am still laughing about your counter space.

Elle said...

Oh, that poor, unsuspecting happy eggplant on the right hand side of the chopping block had no idea what was coming next, did he? hahaha!

That looks amazingly delicious! I have had bad luck cooking with eggplant, unfortunately. Looks like you've got it down already!

desie said...

well done! the post was great fun to read and i bet that eggplant parmigiana was fantastic. you've got a great attitute towards cooking-you make it fun. looking forward to your next post.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Impressive! Looks like it was a great night for you...that was truly a lot of work girl!

Mary Coleman said...

Jessy, You are the best! This looks wonderful. Will you remember us when you're rich and famous?

Anonymous said...

First of all, that first eggplant picture is hilarious! I love the humor. The dish seems easy to make and absolutely delicious. Mmmm, I got to try it over the weekend.

Irene said...

Oohhh... that makes my stomach rumble. The eggplants -- hahahaha! I can imagine that's exactly how they feel. One is all, "oh no!" and the other one is like, "chiiiiill, dude, we're going to be yummy Eggplant Parmesan, have another drink." I hate the looong preparation part, but as you say, the smell... the taste... gosh. I need to go buy me some eggplants!

test it comm said...

Look at all of those eggplant slices! The eggplant parmesan looks and sounds really tasty.

Unknown said...

hi jess! i used to hate eggplants but now i love-e-e-e it! eggplant parmesan...this is something new, a must try!

Cate said...

Yum - looks delicious! I haven't cooked with eggplant in ages, but maybe it's time. Thanks for the inspiration!

Val said...

This looks wonderful! I will have to try that. It looks like it takes a lot of time. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

That looks terrific.
Do you know, if you want to make it healthier, rather than crumb and pan fry you can lightly char grill it instead.

RecipeGirl said...

Peter does post some great looking recipes, doesn't he??

I haven't had eggplant parm in so long. This makes me crave it!

Anonymous said...

I love the first picture! My fiance and I are trying to ear more vegetables so we made a butternut squash soup and I swear the squash were staring at us because they knew we were going to "slaughter" them :)

Anonymous said...

Chop em! Chop em! :)
This looks soooooo good love the scattered basil in your layers too! This dish calls for a fabulous glass of red wine!

Susan @ SGCC said...

That looks like some project! You made enough eggplant to feed an army, lol! It looks great, though!

Jessica said...

We love to make a baked eggplant parmesan dish and serve it over penne. Mmmmmm.