Eggplant Parmesan

It seems lately, all I've been making is good old comfort foods, and the "tried and true" not requiring recipes, "all in the head" pinch of this, a handful of that sort of things that in the past, I never would have dreamed of taking photos of them. Saturday afternoon, granddaughter's 9th birthday, what to make? Early AM, made a large batch of Marinara sauce for the eggplant Parmesan; that was step #1

Started out with 3 medium size eggplants, sliced about 1/2 inch thick and soak them in a large bowl of salty water, to get the bitterness out of the seeds, for about 30 minutes. step#2, got a large plastic baggie and poured about 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, parsley flakes, and garlic powder, and add about 5 pieces of the wet eggplants, and shake them up real well. No eggs needed to dip them into. I lined 3 baking sheets with aluminum foil, dull side up, and drizzle vegetable oil on it. Do not use cooking spray in this one, or you will have to use the whole can, seriously. Now, dip one side into the oil lined foil, turn over to the other side, and coat both sides with the oil, bake in a 375 degree F. oven until both sided get nice and golden, about 25-35 minutes. No frying needed, oil it will get nice and golden brown, and semi-soft.

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Start layering in a large lasagne pan, about 2 ladle full of sauce, a layer of eggplant, shredded mozzarella, grated Parmesan, next, a small ladle full of sauce, eggplant, cheeses, and keep repeating adding sauce over the cheeses.

This is how it should look, before you put into the oven. Let some of the cheese exposed but it should be covered with about 3/4 of the sauce, in order for the cheese not to get too brown. Bake covered with foil, for about 45 minutes, and lift cover off to bake for an additional 25 minutes. In the meantime, you can add more cheese on the top, but it's not necessary. It feeds, an "army". Actually about 10 servings. I did not get a chance to take a picture when it came out of the oven. Let it set for about 15 minutes so you can cut portions easier. (optional, of course) everybody wants to get served at once.

Here's the finished product, nicely set, layers, and layers of eggplant, and goodness of the cheeses. You can serve this with a side of pasta, or nice crunchy baguette, and a side salad. In our case, we made 4 large homemade pizzas, that was eaten, before eggplant Parmesan was even done.(No photos of the pizzas, you can find them previously on cook uncovered)

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