A Little Background
I always thought making this dish was too hard, so I didn’t start making it until I was in my 30s. I remember watching my mom slice the eggplant and then fry it really fast.
Admittedly, she did seem to be a little stressed during the frying part. But one day I stood over her shoulder and watched her as she was quickly frying the eggplant and she told me that the slices need to be “paper thin.”
My knife skills have never been that great, but when I took a chance on making it, I noticed the dish still came out great even though my sliced eggplant didn’t look as precise as my mom’s.
Bread Crumbs or No Bread Crumbs for Eggplant Parmigiana
Over the years, I’ve tried most of the methods you’ve probably heard about when it comes to preparing eggplant parmesan.
Breading the Eggplant
There’s the breading method when each piece of eggplant is dredged in flour, dipped in egg wash, coated with bread crumbs, and then fried in olive oil.
I do love it that way, but there are definitely additional steps involved when preparing that way.
Frying Eggplant in Olive Oil
My mom used to just salt the thinly-sliced eggplant and fry it quickly in a hot pan with a little olive oil, then let paper towels absorb some of the olive oil.
For the dish photographed here, I used both breaded and un-breaded eggplant. I think that’s my favorite since you get the best of both worlds taste-wise – and it certainly speeds up preparation without having to bread and fry all the eggplant.
Baked or Roasted Eggplant
I’ve also breaded the eggplant, then sprayed with olive oil and baked in the oven. Surprisingly, it’s hard to tell the difference once everything is baked together.
Lastly, it’s easy to salt and rub the sliced eggplant with olive oil and then roast in the oven.
Just Do it!
The bottom line is all the methods work, and there really is no right or wrong way.
Whatever way you choose to make it will be right. Enjoy!
Sicilian Eggplant Parmigiana with Homemade Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
Marinara Sauce
- 1 32 ounce can whole tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped onion white or yellow
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves fresh garlic crushed or finely chopped
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tbsp fresh basil
- 1 tbsp parsley fresh or dried
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Eggplant Parmigiana
- 2 whole eggplants medium-sized
- 1/4 cup olive oil extra virgin
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 1/2 cups Italian Bread Crumbs
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
Instructions
Easy Marinara Sauce
- Heat olive oil in heavy pan (like cast iron) and saute onions until tender, about 4 minutes.
- Add garlic and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes, making sure to not burn.
- Add a little of the puree from the canned tomatoes and let sizzle for a couple minutes to help all the flavors from the pan start to come together.
- Add the remaining puree and tomatoes, then the salt, pepper, oregano, basil and parsley, and let cook for about 10 minutes, turning the whole tomatoes at least once.
- With a fork or masher, gently crush the tomatoes until there are no more big chunks remaining. Taste and add additional seasoning, if needed, and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Set aside.
Eggplant Parmigiana
- Heat oven to 375° F.
- With sharp knife, cut the top and bottom of both eggplants. Then slice in half, vertically. Holding one half of the eggplant upright, - carefully cut thin vertical slices, about 1/4 inch thick.
- Salt both sides of the eggplant slices and lay flat on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Cover with another layer of paper towels and then lay something heavy on top (like a rectangular casserole dish) and let sit for one hour. This helps to extract some of the water.Note: This step can be skipped, but I do find it removes some of the bitter taste and helps the eggplant to absorb less oil when frying.
- For breaded slices, dip both sides of eggplant slices in flour, then dip in egg mixture, and then fully coat in bread crumbs. Brown each side and place on paper towel. Repeat steps until remaining slices are cooked. For the non-breaded version:Heat fry pan to medium; add olive oil to cover the bottom. Once hot, carefully add a few eggplant slices at a time (don't overlap) and fry until medium-golden brown (just a couple minutes). Turn over and do the same on the other side. Remove the eggplant and lay flat on a paper towel. Repeat until one of the eggplants (or half of the eggplant slices) is fried. Note: The slices cook fast, and they absorb a lot of olive oil. This is to be expected.
- In 9 1/2-inch baking dish, add marinara sauce to lightly cover the bottom. Add a layer of eggplant, and then sprinkle with grated Pecorino. Add a layer of mozzarella cheese, dollop sauce over the cheese and repeat this layering a few times.
- After the third layer add sliced hard-boiled eggs. This step is optional, but I highly recommend it. Continue with alternating layers of eggplant, sauce, cheese, finishing with sauce, cheese and a parsley garnish.
- Bake in oven at 375° for about 35 minutes until the top layer of cheese is golden brown and the top is bubbling. Let rest about 10 minutes before serving.
Wow! You name that yummy eggplant parmesan dish recipe you made after me! The last time I ate egg plant was when I was a small child. I don’t remember what it tasted like, but somehow I thought eggplants looked strange, so I never ate it again. To think after all these years of avoiding “the eggplant”, I couldn’t believe how delicious that dish was. I can now tell you, I absolutely love egg plant, if it’s cook right.
Evelyne