This recipe could achieve true greatness with a few IMPORTANT adjustments: 1) DO NOT cook the eggplant slices before coating in egg and breadcrumbs. 2) Dip in seasoned flour FIRST as follows: After sweating the eggplant slices, dip in seasoned flour on both sides, and THEN dip in egg, and THEN in breadcrumbs. Continue as directed. Now, the key to any Italian red sauce recipe is the red sauce. You need a solid marinara to make this perfect, not a crummy jarred sauce. You're gonna go through all this work only to smother your delicious, crunchy eggplant with a jar of Ragu??? No way. Master a basic marinara and you can have it ready while the eggplant is sweating.
FABULOUS! If you're a bit intimidated by all the steps, just use a jarred sauce (Mezzetta is very good), but whatever you do, don't skip a step in preparing the eggplant. Especially be sure to use panko bread crumbs as directed. They're a bit bigger and crunchier. Haven't tried freezing because we ate it all! Thanks so much for an excellent recipe!
I changed a few things. I fried my eggplant first dipping in flour then egg and then Italian bread crumbs.
Even though it is healthier (not fried) it is still crispy & delicious! Leave plenty of time for prep - quite a bit of work for a week night. I sub'd fresh mozzarella for the shredded Italian cheese. This is a beautiful, brightly colored dish that presents well and The (Meat) King loved it!
This is an excellent tasty recipe! The way to keep the crunch is to put the prepared eggplant on a baking sheet and just top each slice with a little sauce and the cheese, instead of layering it and smothering it in sauce and cheese. That way the bottom stays crunchy. Try slicing it 1/2 thick instead of 1/4 inch and baking the slices a little longer before putting on the sauce so it cooks all the way through. I put thinly sliced mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce and a nice sprinkling of Asiago cheese to give it more flavor an a little kick. Oh so good! Thanks for posting.
So my husband (who "hates" eggplant) was out and I decided to treat my daughter and myself to a dish we rarely eat, and I found this less-fattening version. Wow! I followed exactly except that I already had chopped onions and green peppers, which we use in everything, so sauteed those for the sauce. Amazing. Panko is a great sub for regular breadcrumbs. Son and hubby came home and both LOVED IT! I love that it's not fried. No bad fats, no need for salt except what was in the sauce. Next time I'll use my homemade sauce. So glad to bring eggplant to the whole family! Kudos to Mama Smith!
I followed the suggestions of others of tossing uncooked eggplant slices in flour, then dipping in egg, then into breadcrumbs. I also made extra and just parcooked them until slightly browned, let cool, then put into the freezer on the baking sheets and into a freezer bag once frozen. Now I can just bake them up the next time we want them. I also didn't bake them with the sauce. I just kept the broiler on and melted some parmesean on each slice, plated them and topped with hot tomato sauce. This way they stayed super crunchy. My husband who supposedly hates eggplant parm ate two servings. Whoot!
This was okay. I say that because I was not blown away by it based on the amount of work it required. I guess I don't see the point in doing all the steps to ensure a crispy breading when you are just going to cover it all in sauce and cheese. It had a good taste overall but no one noticed that the eggplant or breading tasted any different than how I would usually make it. I did brown up some mild Italian sausage and added it to the sauce which added a lot of additional flavor.
AWESOME....A bit more work but well worth it. =o)
