Freshened Up Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant parmesan has had me in a quandary. The best eggplants are available at farmers' markets at this time of year, so this should be the best time of year to make it. But it has never seemed like a summer dish to me. The breaded, fried eggplant, loads of sauce and cheesy goodness have their place, but it seems a wintry place to me, best eaten when the weather is cold outside and a good dish of comfort is in order.

We needed a summer version of eggplant parmesan, and this is my crack at it. Instead of breading and frying the eggplant, we sliced it thinly and roasted it. Our sauce was Cherry Tomato Almost Sauce, barely saucy at all, and we used a bit of ricotta as well as the traditional mozzarella to give the whole thing a fresher flavor.






It scratched my eggplant parmesan itch. The children loved it, too, except for Chloe, who separated all her eggplant -- and perhaps anything that had touched the eggplant -- over to the side of her plate.

Now I just have to figure out how to preserve this season's excellent eggplants to make a wintry version a few months from now.

Second Helping: Smoky Eggplant Parmesan
Thirds: Homemade Ricotta

Freshened Up Eggplant Parmesan

Serves 6 to 8
45 minutes preparation time
30 minutes cooking time

4 small globe eggplants
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt to taste
1 quart cherry tomatoes
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella
15 basil leaves
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 pound fresh ricotta
1 cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Trim the ends of the eggplant. Slice a small bit of the skin off one of the sides of the eggplant. Rest the eggplant on that side and thinly slice the eggplant vertically (discard the first piece, which will be mostly skin). Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking sheet and lightly brush them with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Roast the eggplant in the oven until it is lightly brown, about 10 minutes. After removing the eggplant from the oven, lower the temperature to 350 degrees.

While the eggplant is cooking, make the sauce. The recipe for the Almost Sauce is here.

Spread a ladleful of the tomatoes in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch casserole pan. Add a layer of eggplant and then add some of the tomato sauce, half of the mozzarella and half of the basil. Drizzle with some of the egg. Add another layer of eggplant, then tomato sauce, then the ricotta, then the remaining basil. Again, drizzle with the egg. Continue layering until you have used all of the ingredients. The last layers should be tomato sauce, the remaining mozzarella, and the parmesan, in that order.

Bake until the tomato sauce is bubbling and the cheese on top has melted, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving.

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Comments

[Anna]

Oooh. Sounds great! I love eggplant.

[eva]

That looks yummy!

[Bill]

This looks delicious! I'm making this first chance I get.

[Kiki]

This looks great. (And thanks -- I'm enjoying many of your recipes, after I found my way here via Nikki's blog.)

FYI, When we were overrun with eggplant this summer, I made batches of eggplant parmesan and froze them. It freezes beautifully and bakes into delicious winter comfort food -- perfect for those busy school nights.