Eggplant Parmesan - This is sooooo good it doesn't need a clever title!

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Parmesan is, and pretty much always has been, one of my favorite dishes. If I'm in an Italian restaurant and see eggplant parmesan on the menu then that's what I end up ordering the vast majority of the time. Over the years I've tried several different recipes but this one was the best I've had. Simple ingredients and pretty easy to make. This will now be my personal go to recipe for baked eggplant recipe. It is soooo good I thought I should share it with you as well!

First, here are the ingredients you'll need:

- 2 medium eggplants, cut into 1/2-inch thick rounds

- 1 Tbs coarse salt

- 2 cups unseasoned panko breadcrumbs

- 1 tsp dried oregano

-3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

- 1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (2 ounces)

- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

- 1 cup all-purpose flour

- 4 large eggs

- 4 Tbs vegetable oil

For the sauce you'll need the following ingredients:

- 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes

- 2 Tbs tomato paste

- 2 Tbs olive oil

- 3 tsp Italian seasoning

- 1 tsp dried oregano

- 1/2 tsp onion powder

- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic

- 2 tsp granulated sugar

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp pepper

For the layering, you'll need:

- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella (2 cups)

- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

- Fresh basil leaves or chopped parsley

Lots of ingredients and a bit of work to make this but it was worth it. First, the eggplants were sliced, placed on a layer of paper towels and gently seasoned with some of the salt. The slices were laid flat in layers with a layer of paper towels between each. After all of the slices were laid out and sprinkled with salt, the top layer was covered with another paper towel and a small cookie sheet placed on top to add a bit of weight. This was all set aside for about an hour while I worked on preparing the bread crumbs and sauce.

Now the fun part, I got to use power tools -- the food processor. The breadcrumbs, oregano, red pepper, parmesan, and black pepper were added to the food processor bowl and pulsed until the mix was finely ground. Of course, my cooking wouldn't be an adventure unless I did something wrong. Did you know that our Cuisinart food process can still operate even if the rear latch isn't 100% engaged? Yep, it will. FYI -- if it isn't fully engaged when you do bread crumbs you will end up with a small pile of very fine bread crumbs on the counter behind the food processor...

Then it was time to set up my breading station. I like using cake pans since the slices fit in nicely and they help contain the mess that I'd otherwise spread around the counter. The first pan had the flour, the second pan held the eggs after they were fully blended, and the third pan held the bread crumb mixture. Before starting the breading process, I placed two cookie sheets into a preheated oven at 425F and let them heat as I breaded the egglplant slices.

I removed the eggplant slices from the paper towel layers and wiped off any moisture and excess salt and then began breading by first coating each slice with flour, then dipping it into the egg mixture. After letting the excess egg drip off, the slices were placed into the breadcrumb mixture and each side was evenly coated. After any excess crumbs were dusted off the slices were placed individually onto some wax paper on the counter.

Once all of the slices were breaded, the baking sheets were taken from the oven (I even remembered to use mittens and didn't burn myself -- I'm learning!). The baking sheets were brushed with about 2 tablespoons of oil and the eggplant slices placed on the sheets in a single layer. Then they baked in the oven for about 30 minutes at 425F until they were a golden brown color. About halfway through I pulled the pans out and flipped the slices over

During the time the slices were sitting on the paper towels, and then while the slices were baking, I was able to make the sauce. I impressed myself, I was actually pretty darn efficient during this cooking project and managed to get all of the parts prepared and ready when needed and also managed to trim and blanch some brussel sprouts that were coated with a wonderful seasoned butter sauce! The sauce was really simple to make and it tasted wonderful! This sauce recipe is actually now my "homemade" sauce recipe that I'll use for quick pasta dinners.

To make the sauce, all of the sauce ingredients listed above were put into a medium sauce pan and heated on medium-low heat. That's it! Everything was dumped in and mixed together and then heated. I suppose I could learn to grow the tomatoes (well, I already do that), make my own tomato puree, grow and grind the spices, and then mix everything together but I'm also a realist -- I get to hungry to have the time and patience to truly cook my sauce from scratch. In any case, that's all there was to this sauce -- dump everything in and heat it up!

Then it was time for the final assembly. I gently coated a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray and then poured in a generous cup of the tomato sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Half of the eggplant slices were placed on top of the sauce with their edges overlapping so that everything would fit into the pan. Then another cup of the sauces was spooned on top of the first layer of eggplant to evenly cover it and then that was covered with half of the mozzarella cheese.

Another layer was added the same way -- eggplant and the remaining sauce. The only difference with the top layer was that 1/2 cup of the Pamesan cheese was first added on top of the sauce layer and then the remaining mozzarella cheese went on. The pan went back into the oven for about 15 minutes until the chees was bubbling and a little bit browned. It looked and smelled soooooooo good! I let it cool for about 10 minutes and sprinkled a little bit of parsley on top for color -- everything needs parsley, right?

I served it on top of angel hair pasta and the fresh brussel sprouts I'd mentioned before. It seems like there's a lot to this recipe but it really was easy to make and tasted as good as anything I've had in a restaurant. Definitely one of my very favorite things I've made during this cooking adventure. I hope you'll try it too and let me know how you like it.

Bon appetit!

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