Vegetables

Eggplant Parmesan

My first introduction to this wonderful dish was made, as a side dish, in some holiday meal by my entirely German Grandmother. It has become undoubtedly my favorite dish.

My love of all foods Italian though, comes from my Grandfather a 100 % Pennsylvania Dutchman. He was one of the youngest quartermaster sergeants in WW 1 and after he mustered out, went to work for his sister's husband in N.Y.C. in an overcoat factory. Most of the tailors at the plant were Italian and he roomed with them. They would start the "gravy " before going to work and then made the spaghetti and other dishes when they came home. My Grandfather became hooked on spaghetti. He had a sixth sense about it. Even though he lived 10 miles away, on nights when we would be having spaghetti, just as we sat down to dinner, he and my grandmother would be at the front door.

There are a number of variations to the recipe, this one is fairly cheesy

Directions

Peel and slice the eggplant.
Set the flour in one large dish, the egg wash in a second and the bread crumbs in a third.
Cover both sides of the eggplant with flour, dust off excess and wet completely in egg wash transfer to bread crumbs and cover completely .
In a frying pan large enough to accommodate small batches of eggplant place the oil, bring up to a medium high heat and fry the eggplant disks in batches until golden brown.
Place on paper towels to drain after they are cooked.
Add the sugar to the tomato sauce so that it is slightly sweet.
Using a Corningware 2 quart Blue Cornflower Casserole*, place a few spoonfuls of sauce on the bottom of the pan.Then using layers, place eggplant in a single layer top with ricotta sprinkled with a little of the mozzarella then a few more spoonfuls of sauce.
Continue to layer ,ending with a layer of eggplant.
on top of this layer spread some sauce and most of the mozzarella.
When ready, bake at 375° for 30-45 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Remove from the oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes to allow cheese to firm up.