A New Hybrid: Eggplant Parmatini

This may come as a surprise to many of you, being that I regularly worship at the altar of the great swine, pray to the god of the Porterhouse and would bathe in duck fat if given the chance; my favorite food is eggplant.  In particular, eggplant in some type of Parmesan or rollatini variation.  I also love it in stir-fry, spicy Szechuan style, sautéed and tossed in pasta etc., etc.  Without question though, the cheesy, saucy,  Eggplant Parmesan is something I could eat with a loaf of crusty Italian bread every day of my life and never get bored.

A few weeks ago I wrote a column about exploring food with Soo’s mom, Sie Rang.  We have been having a weekly meeting to go to new restaurants. This week, since we both share a passion for eggplant and that she cooked me a special Korean eggplant dish last week (Gajijhim)  that I would repay the favor and make her my specialty,  Eggplant Parmatini.

Eggplant Parmatini is a Parmesan/Rollatini hybrid that incorporates the best of those two favorites by introducing a ricotta sauce and extremely thinly sliced eggplant to a traditional Parmesan recipe.  It took me all day but was so worth the effort.  Make this one for your Sunday dinner and invite the mob…uh…I mean…a mob…because it’s heavy and there’s a lot to go around.

Eggplant Parmatini

4 medium-sized Italian eggplants, peeled

1 large ball of fresh mozzarella, sliced thin

locatelli romano cheese

2 cups of whole milk ricotta

1/2-3/4 cup water

eggs for egg wash

seasoned bread crumbs

salt

pepper

olive oil

1 pot of fresh marinara sauce (your recipe will have to do because mine is a secret)

1.  Using a mandoline slice the eggplants into 1/8 inch slices.  Dip the slices in the egg wash and lightly coat them in breadcrumb.  Heat about a 1/4 cup of olive oil in a very hot pan and fry the eggplants in batches, adding oil as the pan gets dry.  Drain the slices on paper towels as they come out of the oil. Fry until golden brown.

2.  After you are done frying put the ricotta in a large bowl and whisk in enough water to make the ricotta roughly the same consistency as your pot of sauce.  Mine is like a thick soup.

3.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a 9×13 inch lasagna pan ladle in enough sauce to make a light coating and begin to cover the bottom of the pan with the fried eggplant slices.  Sprinkle with the grating cheese, drizzle a ladle of the ricotta sauce, a ladle of the tomato sauce and repeat twice, alternating the eggplants slices in each layer to form alternating vertical and horizontal layers.  This will help the dish hold it’s shape.  After the third layer add half of the mozzarella, then continue with the additional layers until you are out of eggplant slices.  Top the dish with more of the tomato and ricotta sauces, grating cheese and the remaining mozzarella slices and top each mozzarella slice with a small fresh basil leaf.  Add fresh cracked fresh pepper and salt to the top and drizzle with olive oil.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes allow to cool slightly, cut into 3×3 squares and serve with pasta or salad.

Serves 12