Eggplant Parm

In the dead of summer I’m heavily invested in mayo-forward picnic salads and the grilling life. But there comes a point when the craving strikes for a warm and deeply comforting baked something-something. I’m talking melty cheesy something-somethings with a crispy crunchy layer on top. Enter: Eggplant Parm.

What I love most about this version is the simplicity of ingredients and that it skips the traditional breadcrumbs all together. The resulting dish is light and has not a trace of the soggy, food-coma-inducing breading of conventional eggplant parm. Finally, it’s a re-heating super star, so you can make a double or triple batch for quick meals later!

While it’s possible to make this dish any time of the year, summer is peak season for both eggplant and tomatoes. And with so few ingredients in this recipe to hide behind, the quality of the veggies will truly shine through! So enjoy this eggplant parm while the summer harvest lasts!

The Recipe

Makes one 9x9 or 10x10-inch pan (serves 4 moderate or 6 light portions) (🔥Super Size)

This recipe has modified from food52; ingredients and language were modified.

Ingredients

Garlic Tomato Sauce (🔥Time Warp)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 large garlic cloves, crushed and roughly chopped

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1 28-ounce can of whole San Marzano tomatoes (🔥Pantry Friendly)

Eggplant Parmesan

2 pounds eggplant (🎩 Size Matters)

Salt

1 cup flour

Olive oil

1 cup finely grated parmesan, plus more for serving

1 cup mozzarella, fresh or low-moisture, shredded or torn in small pieces (🔥Final Check)

Instructions

Sweat the eggplant: (🔥A Soggy Situation)

1. Trim tops and peel the eggplants. Cut ½-inch slices, lengthwise from top to bottom.

2. Set a plate under a large colander to catch future drips. Take an eggplant slice, salt it generously on both sides, then place it in the colander. Continue salting and building layers of eggplant. Once salted, allow all the slices to sweat for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Make the garlic tomato sauce: (🔥Time Warp)

1. In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat add olive oil and garlic, stirring occasionally. (🎩 Bitter Ending) When the garlic starts to brown, turn off the heat. (🎩 Blooming) If using, sprinkle in the red pepper flakes. Let stand for 3 minutes.

2. In your hands, squeeze the tomatoes one by one like stress balls, crushing them over the saucepan before adding them to the pan. Add any remaining tomato juice and sauce from the can as well. Using a wooden spoon, break up the tomatoes in the pan, ensuring no chunks are larger than a marble. Set the heat to medium, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. (🔥Simmer Down Now) Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, then turn the heat off and keep the sauce covered until ready to use.

Bake the eggplant:

1. Place two oven racks in the top and center positions of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F, convection if possible. On a large plate, lay the flour.

2. Discard the eggplant juice from the plate under the colander, then wipe the plate dry; this is where you will put the dry eggplants slices later. Pat each eggplant slice dry with paper towels, layering them onto the plate as you go.

3. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil into a sheet pan then use your fingers to spread the oil evenly.

4. Lightly dredge all sides of an eggplant slice in the flour, then tap the eggplant to release excess flour (🔥Powder Puff). Place the slice on the oiled baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining slices, packing them tightly in the pan if necessary; it’s OK if the slices touch.

   OPTIONAL: Lightly spray the eggplant slices with PAM or similar spray; skip if you don’t have it. This is just to assist with browning in the oven.

5. Bake on the center rack for 15 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes (🔥Powder Puff). Remove, then reduce the temperature to 400°F.

Assemble and bake the Eggplant Parm:

1. Using a 9x9-inch oven-safe baking dish, spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom. This is layer “0”. The remaining layers are as follows:

   • 1 & 4 - EGGPLANT - you can cut the eggplant slices to better fit in the pan as needed

   • 2 & 5 - SAUCE - enough to cover and spread over the layer of eggplant

   • 3 & 6 - PARMESAN - a moderate sprinkling all around

   • 7 - MOZZARELLA - use all of it here to create one gooey layer

   • Layers 8+: repeat EGGPLANT, SAUCE & PARMESAN until you’re out of ingredients. Ensure that top two layers are sauce then a generous shower of parmesan, not eggplant, or you’ll end up with dry burnt eggplant on top. Over lap eggplant slices if needed to use them up in their last layer.

2. Bake on the top rack for 20 minutes, then check for moisture and burning (🔥Final Check). Bake for another 10 minutes then remove and let it rest for at least 15 minutes. Garnish with a sprinkling of fresh parmesan and serve.

Enjoy!

Hot Tips 🔥

• SUPER SIZE — When doubling the recipe, use a 9x13-in dish; it’ll feed 8-10 comfortably. Note that the resulting parm will also have more layers than the single recipe. Tripling it? Use two 9x9-inch pans!

• TIME WARP — Swap in your favorite store-bought marinara sauce to cut time. You can also make the garlic tomato sauce up to two days in advance. Just warm it up before assembling the whole dish.

• PANTRY FRIENDLY — Whole San Marzano tomatoes are considered the creme de la creme of tomatoes. But, feel free to swap in any canned whole, diced, or crushed tomatoes you have in the pantry. In a pinch, tomato sauce will work too! Or if you’re lucky enough to have locally sourced jarred tomatoes, go for it!

• A SOGGY SITUATION — Salting is THE KEY to browning the eggplant to create flavor, and preventing a soupy eggplant parm. Salt draws out water that would otherwise be released during cooking. Since the eggplant is dry after salting, instead of steaming in its own water, the slices brown in the oven. Therefore, DON’T RUSH THIS STEP! And don’t add additional salt elsewhere in the recipe or you’ll risk over salting the dish entirely!

• SIMMER DOWN NOW— To simmer, first bring the sauce right up to a boil (bubbling vigorously and quickly), then immediately turn the heat down to an amount of heat where the sauce is still bubbling but it’s slower, gentle, and with smaller bubbles. Depending on how much heat your burner provides, this might be the “low” or “medium-low” setting. Regardless, the important thing is that the liquid has just enough heat for a gentle bubble.

• POWDER PUFF — We are looking for a thin almost translucent layer of flour, not a snow storm. While too much flour won’t kill the dish, it will prevent the slices from browning in the oven. If, after cooking, the eggplant slices still look powdery, that’s ok. It just means there was too much flour and not enough oil. Take them out of the oven and move on to the next step.

• FINAL CHECK — If you use fresh mozzarella, it may cause excess moisture when cooking the parm. If it looks soupy, take the parm out of the oven, press down on the eggplant and use a spoon to draw away some of the excess water.

  If the parmesan is too dark for your liking, cover with foil then return to the oven.

Tricks 🎩

• SIZE MATTERS — Since the eggplant will be sliced to create sheets, it’s best to use the large oval shaped eggplants, rather than the long skinny eggplants. However, if you are unable to find the oval shaped variety, you may use the skinny type. Just be sure to cut them into coin shapes rather than from top to bottom as directed in the recipe.

• BITTER ENDING — Stop the heat as soon as you see some browning. Otherwise, the garlic will darken too much which causes it to turn bitter. We’re just trying to flavor the oil with garlic and cook off the sharp garlic acidity, not make garlic chips!

• BLOOMING — Blooming, applying heat to dry spices, allows them to release their natural oils and develop deeper flavor. In this case, blooming the pepper flakes in hot oil intensifies their spiciness and infuses the oil. If you prefer mild spiciness, add the chili flakes AFTER you’ve added the tomatoes.