The tomatoes are ripening and the eggplant is ready, along with all the herbs. I put it all together and prepared Eggplant Parmesan for you (well for us, but I'll share).
As you've seen in some of my previous posts, I have a backyard garden and participate in a CSA so we have an abundance of fresh organic vegetables. Tonight I began the somewhat time consuming but "Oh So Worth It" preparation of eggplant parmesan with a fresh made marinara sauce. I used all of our ripe tomatoes and eggplants along with onions and garlic from the CSA. This is a great way to not let any of these go to waste as this dish will freeze amazingly well.
Its best to make as much as you can in one session. This way you only dirty the kitchen once but you can have several meals without making a new mess.
Ingredients:
Sauce
Garden Fresh Tomatoes (2 dozen or so)
Bunch of Fresh Basil leaves
Several sprigs of Fresh Oregano (remove the stems)
2 -3 tsp olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
5-6 cloves of garlic - smashed then chopped
salt & pepper
fresh grated parmesan cheese
Additional Herbs for garnish
Eggplant
2-4 purple eggplants - peeled and sliced in rounds
2 cups of breadcrumbs & 1 tsp dried oregano (mixed together)
4-5 beaten eggs w/1 tbsp of water
olive oil (as needed for frying)
salt & pepper
Mozzarella Cheese (about 2 lbs. shredded)
Ingredient amounts are flexible - more eggplant means more breadcrumbs, sauce and cheese.
For the sauce (this can be made ahead of time)
Rough chop the plum (or San Marzano) tomatoes. This type of tomato has more "meat" and less water so they make an amazing sauce. I put the tomatoes, basil and oregano in the food processor and process until its just small chunks. Continue that process until you have a potful of chopped tomatoes.
In the meantime, sauté the onions in olive oil until they start to soften, add about 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and cook with the onions. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add the tomato/herb mixture from the food processor. Add basil & oregano, salt, pepper and grated parmesan cheese to taste. Simmer, uncovered, for 25-50 minutes depending on how thick you want the sauce.
Now for the star of the show ... THE EGGPLANT
First dip the slices of eggplant in the egg wash, then cover with breadcrumbs/oregano mixture and fry in the olive oil until golden. Place on paper towels to absorb excess oil and salt the cooked eggplant.
Continue with this process until all the eggplant has been fried. You might need to add or replace some olive oil as you proceed depending on how much eggplant you have.
Sometimes (including this time) we end up eating a bunch of fried eggplant before we get around to putting the dish together, it is delicious just hot out of the frying pan. I have baked the eggplant on occasion and it turns out good, but not as great as when its fried.
Now we put the dish together ...
Preheat Oven to 350℉.
In a large baking pan (or two if you've made a lot), cover the bottom of the dish with sauce, layer of eggplant, handful of shredded cheese, REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT, until the pan(s) are full. This one is 9 x 13".
Sauce
Eggplant
Eggplant
Cheese
You can freeze it now if you're not planning on eating it in the next few days, or you can also freeze all or some of it after baking, be sure to cover it tightly when freezing.
Bake for 30-45 minutes at 350℉ (covered for the first 20 minutes) until the cheese is melted and the dish is bubbling hot.
Serve with pasta and some olives (or whatever you prefer)
Mangia Tutti!!!
It is delicious!
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