Eggplant Parmigiana- That's Amore

There is a type of ravenous longing hunger that can be quenched (so much the right word for this thirsty kind of hunger) only with red sauce Italian. When I say red sauce Italian, I mean Little Italy Italian, North Shore Italian- American Italian- the Italian I grew up with before the introduction into the American culinary vernacular of the more chic "Northern" Italian dishes- their subtlety failing to, to... quench.

'When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine',
well then you must be having eggplant paremsan for lunch.

You'd think a hot bubbling casserole of zesty tomato sauce, fried (deep fried) eggplants, and quite a bit of bubbling milky-tasting mozzarella (the cheap kind- not the kind in liquid) would be just too heavy for a hot, damp summer afternoon promising a thunderstorm. But consider- this is a dish conceived in a hot country, to make the most of the bounty of a hot season, and- oh my- does it ever! It is supremely satisfying, curiously delicate if prepared with some finesse, just a little sweet like the sauce on a slice at Stromboli off of First Avenue, and not a bit heavy.

As they say, truth has no 'versions' 

Our Parmesan here is truly like any other- and that's really the beauty of it. The dish, though not at all complicated, does involve a number of steps- the making of the sauce, the slicing and salting and rinsing of the eggplant slices, their breading and frying, and assembling the whole tempting thing and topping it with a white shower of shredded cheese. So as to not be overwhelmed with pans and bowls and so on, you could do the sauce before. One reason this particular eggplant parmesan is pleasingly delicate is that I took the trouble (no trouble really- it was a pleasure) of making a fresh sauce-the most obvious use of the plentiful tomatoes of July.

Of course there's no need to use those photogenic tomatoes like you get for a caprese. I use the sacks of tomatoes of jumbled size and ripeness that can be had so for so little towards the end of market day. Fresh tomato sauce is less red, less heavy, and where the sauce of canned tomatoes has that nice edge of tang, this has an even nicer edge of sweetness. Even after a good simmer, it is still both thinner and lighter, so we can use lots and lots of it without upsetting the balance of our dish. So, as much as the eggplant slices absorb it, there will still be some sauce pooling around the tender eggplant on your plate.

We'll need:

10 to 15 tomatoes

4 garlic cloves

2 large eggplants

3 eggs 

1 C flour

2 C breadcrumbs

fresh basil

salt

a little freshly grated parmesan

200 g/7 oz dry style mozarella

2 cups of olive oil, maybe more

For the sauce:

Grate the tomatoes on the large holes of a standing grater into a bowl, and discard the skins (or save them for a quick bright vegetable broth)- You'll want a couple of liters- this goes much quicker than it sounds, and is pleasant light work.

When the tomatoes are ready (but not before as you'll risk burning it) saute three or four thinly sliced garlic cloves until they take just a bit of golden color, and add the tomatoes. Salt gently- it will cook down and get progressively saltier. We'll season the sauce with fresh basil when we compose the dish, so there's no need for anything else save the plenty of garlic and the judicious salting.

Let it take on a bit of color- don't to be too subtle.

So this doesn't take long at all but you'll be glad to get it out of the way what with the grater and the bowl and the cutting board and the pot. The eggplant preparation, though not difficult, commands a lot of space. Getting the sauce taken care of in advance does much in the way of averting incipient chaos- the very last mood you want near a shallow pan of sizzling oil.

Now the eggplants-

Slice three or four eggplants into slabs about a half cm thick (less than a quarter inch). In their thinness lies much of the delicacy of the dish. Much thinner than this and perhaps they'll tear though. Place them on a tray and salt them on each side and leave them to release a bit of their moisture.

As the eggplant slices sit, get out three large shallow bowls. One will hold flour, one will hold beaten eggs (you'll probably need three) and one will hold bread crumbs (I had some from the "Dinner Candy" day), plenty of them. As you do, heat a couple centimeters of olive oil in a skillet.

Now this next bit may seem like a lot of work, but actually it's just a lot of bowls.

Rinse your eggplant slices and give them a gentle squeeze. Dredge one in flour:

then in the beaten egg:

and lastly in the bread crumbs:

It works beautifully- the flour sticks evenly to the naked eggplant, the beaten egg in turn clings to the flour, and the crumbs to egg. A thin but sturdy and intact crust is all over the slice, sealing in the moisture and making clean, spatter-free work of the frying. This three-layer breading makes a substantial crust that holds up very well in the oven, absorbing the sauce to become a layer of tender resistance.

Shake the slice over the bowl and slip into the rather hot oil you have ready in a shallow skillet:

Fry until golden on the one side, then turn and do the other, then let them rest on some paper towels as you continue:

Two eggplants should fill three or four skillets. It could be that towards the third batch, the oil gets smoky on account of the little bits of crumb falling off and starting to burn. The oil could develop an off taste from this, and the subsequent batches turn out blacker than you'd like. I changed the oil after the third batch, wiping the pan out with a paper towel to make sure no bits of crumb were clinging to the sides. 

Cover the bottom of a large baking dish with some of the fresh sauce, and lay the slices of eggplant over it- overlapping them if you must but not stacking them. Cover these with some shredded basil leaves, and then more sauce, about this much:

See the sweet slices of garlic in the sauce?

The breading absorbs quite a bit of sauce- make sure you use enough. Then dust it with some freshly grated parmesan, like this:

And then the shredded mozzarella, making sure to not use too much- you should see plenty of sauce peeking through:

A lacy blanket of shredded cheese lets the dish breathe.

Remember it's a thin dish- just the one layer of those wispy eggplant slices. There'll be plenty of cheese in each mouthful- too much would make a heavy blanket and weigh down our surprisingly delicate lunch. If it goes into the oven (170C/350F) while the sauce and the eggplant slices are still warm, it won't need but 20 minutes to look like this:

Just enough time to have a cool shower, pour some wine, and fix your play list. Mine most unabashedly includes Dean Martin.

Most happily, so does the soundtrack of Fading Gigolo, a film which, like this dish, for me has all the innocence and sweetness of the New York I grew up in. Try this too, and this.

Perfect for July.