Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients

2 large eggplant, sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices

2 cups (more or less) mixture of Panko and regular breadcrumbs. Either does fine by themselves too.

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 cup flour, might need more

1 cup oil, canola, vegetable, something with high smoke point

2 jars of store bought marinara sauce

4 cups whole milk mozzarella shredded

1 cup Parmesan cheese shredded

Cooking Instructions

• Place eggplant slices on a cookie drying tray thingy. Or something that will allow them to drip water from both sides, see picture. Do this for 1 hour.

• When your eggplant slices have finished draining liquid, brush off the excess salt, and wipe them with a handful of paper towels until dry.

• In 3 shallow plates or bowls, add breadcrumbs to one, flour in the other and whisk eggs and milk in the third. Dip both sides of eggplant slice into flour, then milk/egg mixture then cover with breadcrumbs, shaking off the excess. Place on plate or large baking sheet and repeat until all eggplant slices have been coated.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

• Heat a skillet (ideally cast iron) over medium high heat and the vegetable oil into the skillet. Once the skillet is hot, fry the eggplant slices in batches, 3-4 at a time until golden brown, remove and set on a large plate lined with paper towels. Repeat until you've pan fried them all.

• In a large casserole dish, add a light layer of marinara sauce to the bottom, then a layer of eggplant slices, then sprinkle a layer of cheese. Repeat that until you’ve used all the eggplant slices. Be a little more generous with the cheese on the top layer!

• Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and brown on top. I used the broiler for 3 minutes to get the cheese nice and brown. Be sure you watch it and don’t forget, or you will burn the cheese!

If you want, serve with a side of pasta. But pretty amazing by itself.