Eggplant Parmesan

Monday 26 August

Barbara speaking.  Back in graduate school when I lived with nine other people in a big house in Brookline, under the name "the Ali ben Buddha Society," I bought 11 eggplants (!) and made A Shitload of Eggplant Parmesan (TM) for communal dinner.  

I did it according to the classic Neapolitan style that Karen's Nanny taught us, slicing the eggplant paper-thin, salting and pressing, breading each slice with seasoned breadcrumbs, standing over the stove and frying them in batch after batch, making a classic red gravy, and layering it with parmesan and mozzarella in a giant turkey roasting pan.  It took six hours to prepare, and was snarfed down by the hungry Ali ben Buddhists in 15 minutes.  What an anticlimax.

This is my adaptation for the demands of the 21st century.  I broiled the eggplant without breading, but made the seasoning similar; bumped up the gravy with fresh herbs; and varied the cheeses to be less bland.  It takes lots less time, you can stay off your feet while you're preparing it, and it feeds four rather than ten.  You learn a few things after forty years.

Broiled Eggplant Parmesan

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

olive oil

1 large (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1 Tbsp. white wine

1 bay leaf

10-12 fresh oregano or basil leaves

kosher salt and black pepper

2 big peeled eggplants (over 3 pounds), sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick

ca. 1/2 cup ricotta salata, grated

ca. 1/2 cup grated Romano

ca. 1/2 cup grated scamorza (smoked mozzarella)

Directions

Gently brown garlic and some tomato paste in a saucepan with a Tbsp. of olive oil.  Add tomatoes, rinse out the can with white wine, throw that and the bay leaf in, and let simmer until it's thick.  Tear up fresh herb leaves, throw in, simmer 5 mins. more, and set aside.

While that's simmering, get your broiler going at 450º.  Arrange the first batch of eggplant slices on a baking sheet brushed with olive oil.  Brush them with more oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and dried oregano. Broil until brown and tender, 3 to 4 minutes per side.  Then flip them, putting browner ones where the paler ones were, and give them 3 minutes on the other side until done.  Remove, and brown the second trayful in the same way, until all are done and heaped on a platter.

Spread some olive oil and then some tomato sauce in the bottom and up the sides of your normal lasagna pan (ours is pyrex, 3-qt.).  Add one layer of eggplant slices, then top with sauce, then cheese.  We varied the cheeses in the layers: the first one was ricotta salata, the second scamorza, the third (really just down the middle under a half-layer of eggplant) romano, and at the end, topped it all with scamorza and romano.  

In 400º oven, bake the lasagna until bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving, or it will fall into mush when you cut it.  A half panful makes a very satisfying dinner for two, and we took a sedate half hour to eat it.