Eggplant Parmigiana

Give me anything with sauce and mozzarella and I'm sold. What can I say, I'm half Italian. The food's in my roots. As a kid, I ate a LOT of pasta. Most people who ate as much pasta as I did growing up would probably loathe the stuff as an adult. Well, I am definitely not one of those people. I still love it, still eat a ton of it. But when you get older, your taste buds definitely change. Although I still love pasta, there's another Italian dish that I am way more partial to. It's funny because I truly HATED this meal growing up.

Seriously though, how many kids do you know who really like eggplant parmigiana? That's what I figured. This is definitely a more grown up meal, so if you can get your kids to eat it that's awesome. Hats off to you. But my guess is probably not. (more for you!) Eggplant parmigiana is very similar to a vegetarian lasagna, minus the lasagna noodles. It's thinly sliced egggplant fried to perfection, then layered atop sauce and cheese, and then baked in the oven until the cheese is bubbly and browned.  SOOO DELICIOUS.  This meal can be very time consuming, so I did myself a favor and used store bought sauce. I know, I know, I have yet to make my own sauce. I'll get there, I promise.

Eggplant Parmigiana

• Oil
• 1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced very thin
• 2 jars of good marinara sauce
• All purpose flour
• Italian bread crumbs
• 3 large eggs
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat your eggs in a medium sized bowl and add salt and pepper. Get two plates, one for the flour and the other for the breadcrumbs. Start with about 1 cup of the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese mixed together. (you will probably need more) Set up an assembly line.

Dip the eggplant slices into the flour first, then egg, then coat with bread crumbs. Repeat until all the eggplant is breaded.

Breaded eggplant. (not yet fried)

Heat a large pan with oil. Once the oil is good and heated, start frying the eggplant. Flip each slice when golden brown. Set the fried slices on a paper towel lined plate. When slices are all cooked and cooled slightly, start the layering process. Using a rectangular baking pan, add sauce to the bottom, then the eggplant, then more sauce, then the mozzarella. Continue layering until all the eggplant is in the pan. Top with sauce, mozzarella, and any remaining parmesan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes Until the cheese is melted. Turn the broiler on for 1 minute, to get a more golden brown finish.  Let cool for five minutes before cutting into. Enjoy!