EGGPLANT PARM
My very favorite version of this very delicious dish
Hello and welcome to month SIX (wow!) of my recipe newsletter. September was a difficult month to choose a recipe for because it’s basically the last month of summer. So much pressure! Blueberry pie? Pasta salad? Corn pudding? It was tough.
I landed on eggplant parm as my last summer hurrah and I’ll tell you why. It’s the best food in the world. Period. If you read my last newsletter on roast chicken then you know that I generally believe that there is rarely one “best” version of a dish. In fact, there are usually so many equally good choices to make when cooking that you just have to go with what sounds delicious to you in the moment. But with eggplant parm I’m going to just go ahead and say that this is the best version of the best dish.
I don’t like those weird versions of eggplant parm where the eggplant is cut thick and breaded in panko. In my (controversial) opinion, mozzarella does not belong in this dish, but I won’t stop you from adding some melty cheese in between the layers if you’re into that kinda thing. Don’t try to make it more “healthy” by baking the breaded eggplant instead of frying it. You could layer unbreaded fried eggplant with tomato sauce and it’d be really really good, but that’s a tian and eggplant parm is better.
In my version you slice the eggplant thin, dredge it in parm-y flour and egg and then flour again, which, when fried, makes these sort-of-imitation pasta sheets in between the layers of eggplant. Then it’s all layered together with pecorino, parmesan and a jammy tomato sauce. It’s freaking divine.
To get perfectly thin slices of eggplant you will need a mandoline slicer. I am sorry to say that it’s unlikely that you will be able to get perfectly even and thin slices of eggplant if you attempt to do this with a knife. I wouldn’t trust myself to do it either. Mandolines are not cheap, but they are invaluable in my kitchen. I hope that you will find the same to be true. I love mine and I think you should buy one. Make sure you get this extra wide one because the smaller ones will be too narrow to slice your eggplant.
There are not a lot of ingredients in eggplant parm, but it’s definitely a laborious dish to make. I find that it’s the most fun to make with a friend or lover. It’s a special occasion dish to celebrate the end of summer.
To start, a few notes on canned tomatoes -
I usually opt for whole vs. crushed or chopped canned tomatoes. The general consensus among cooks is that whole tomatoes taste better and are higher quality than chopped. Crushed tomatoes can taste good, but I find that they make a really splattery mess when cooking down the tomato sauce. Because of this I prefer to make sauce from whole tomatoes, and then crush with a spoon or puree to a smoother consistency later.
Most importantly: not all canned tomatoes are created equal. If you have one takeaway from this newsletter, let it be a lesson in which canned tomatoes are the best.
Here’s a list of my favorites, and a few to avoid.
YES
Mutti - I love these whole peeled tomatoes, but their little cherry tomatoes are great too.
Cento - the organic san marzano are the best, but all are prettttyyy good
NO
San Marzano (the branded one) - don’t be fooled by the attractive packaging
Any store brand tomatoes like Trader Joes or 365 Whole Foods. Avoid!!!
Photos by Ben Turner, whose work you can find here.
EGGPLANT PARM serves 4-6 (this recipe can be doubled or tripled very easily)
TOMATO SAUCE
3 tablespoons olive oil 1
½ onion, finely chopped
½ head garlic, smashed and peeled
two 28oz cans whole tomatoes
optional - 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, a pinch or three of chili flake2
Salt, to taste
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar, maybe more to taste (I’ll explain later)
3 sprigs of basil, leaves only
Start with a pot or dutch oven that is at least 3 times the size of the amount of sauce you’re going to make. Tomato sauce likes to splatter, and a big high sided pot will help to prevent a big miss.
Add olive oil to your pot and turn heat to medium-low. Add chopped onion and cook about 5 minutes, stirring often. We don’t want any color here, just cooked through and translucent onion. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add the two cans of tomatoes and turn heat up to medium-high. I like to rinse each can with a couple tablespoons of water, which I will then add to the sauce. Add onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano and chili flake here, but all of these are totally optional. Add a big pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Allow sauce to come up to a simmer and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Cook for about 45 minutes, stirring often to prevent the bottom of the pan from sticking and burning.
After 45 minutes, add torn basil and taste the sauce - the sauce should be well seasoned with salt. The sugar is there to balance the acidity - follow the intuitive yum in your brain and add a little more salt and sugar as needed. Careful with the sugar though, we don’t want to border on dessert! 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon at a time should do it. You may have a little extra sauce leftover after building your eggplant parm, but I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out something to do with it.
While the sauce cooks, start preparing your eggplant.
FRIED EGGPLANT
1 1/4 lb eggplant3 - ideally in the form of two smaller eggplant, but one large is ok4
4 eggs
3 tablespoons water
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan, or pecorino, or preferably a mix of both
Olive oil and neutral oil for frying (something like grapeseed, sunflower seed, or canola)
Salt
First, slice off the inedible top of the eggplant and discard. Next, on your newly purchased extra wide mandoline, slice your eggplant lengthwise into 1/8 inch slices. I like to slice the eggplant lengthwise to mimic the shape of lasagna noodles, which helps to prevent the eggplant parm from falling apart. It should be thin, but not paper thin. See the next photo for reference! I don’t salt eggplant ahead and drain it as a lot of recipes recommend. They say to do it because it draws out bitterness, but I find that if you’re cooking eggplant in season this isn’t really a concern.
Now set up your dredging station - in a dish with high sides add your 2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of grated parm/pecorino. Add a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly.
In a second dish, crack your four eggs and whisk in the water. Season with a pinch of salt.
The method here is to first dredge your eggplant in the flour-parm mix, being sure that all surfaces are well coated. Next, dip into the egg and then back into the flour, gently pressing it so the flour mixture adheres to the egg. Then set aside and move on to the next piece. I recommend either working with another person so that one of you is dredging, and the other is frying. Or, if you’re working alone, go ahead and get all of the eggplant dredged before you start frying.
You can fry the eggplant in a variety of pans, but I like a semi-high sided 12-14 inch pan. You will need to cover the pan with about 1 inch of oil - 4 parts neutral oil and 1 part olive oil. The olive oil will give good flavor to the fried eggplant, but I like to dilute it with a neutral oil so that we can fry at a higher temperature without burning the oil.
Allow your oil to pre-heat for a few minutes. While you wait, set up a sheet tray with a few layers of paper towel where you can land your fried eggplant and blot off any excess oil after frying.
To test the temperature of the oil, flick in a bit of flour. You want to see some bubble action happening. When your oil is ready, add an even layer of the breaded eggplant to the pan. Keep an eye on the temperature of your oil, we want a solid medium heat. You can tell the temperature of the oil by how vigorously it’s bubbling. Too low and mellow and the eggplant will absorb too much of the oil. Too high and the dredge will burn before it cooks through. Fry the eggplant on each side for about 1-2 minutes. We want a pale golden here, we are not looking for a dark golden brown. After the fried eggplant has drained on the paper towel, sprinkle lightly with salt. Continue until all eggplant is fried.
LAYERING THE EGGPLANT PARM
Tomato sauce
Fried eggplant
1/2 cup grated parmesan, or pecorino, or preferably a mix of both
Ladle a generous amount of sauce into the base of your 8x8 baking dish. Now make an even layer of fried eggplant. Add a bit more sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. I like to alternate the direction in which I am placing each layer of eggplant, so for this second layer, face it in the opposite direction as the first. This will help to hold the eggplant together and make more even slices. Then add more sauce, cheese, and continue on until you’ve used up all of your eggplant. The final layer should have a generous amount of sauce, and more cheese!
Now bake in a 375F oven for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is golden. Rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing and eating.
This recipe is delicious leftover as a sandwich!!
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For a regular tomato sauce I would probably double the amount of olive oil, but since the eggplant will absorb a bunch of oil I am keeping this sauce a bit more lean.
Onion powder and garlic powder are more recent additions to my pantry and let me tell you, I am obsessed. They add an extra depth of flavor that is difficult to describe. A little goes a long way. I like to add them to the dry brine for a roast chicken, a salad dressing, or to roasted potatoes.
Make sure the eggplant is very firm, not soft in spots, and not bruised.
Larger eggplant tend to have more seeds and be a bit more bitter than the little guys.
Want to hear more about your onion and garlic powder uses! I weirdly always feel guilty when I use them. They feel like cheating or trashy like they’re only for chips or processed dips.
yum, grace, looks so good, have not made eggplant parm in YEARS, can't wait to try yours !