Eggplant Parmesan

Serves 6-8

This is a variation of the recipe published in Patricia Wells' Trattoria, which is somewhat like an eggplant lasagna or moussaka. I am pretty much reproducing a slightly rewritten version of her recipe and indicating in the step-by-step part what I did that was different.

Tomato Sauce

1/4 c olive oil
1 small onion, red or yellow
2 cloves of garlic
salt
1 k (2 lb) ripe tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped (see 1. below)

1. Well the first thing I did was to use tinned tomatoes. I used 4 x 400gr tins and I squeezed the tomatoes when I added them (see 2. below). I suppose I might have pureed cut up ripe tomatoes in the food processor and forced them through a food mill if we had had a lot of ripe tomatoes around. The trouble is that in the winter you don't, and in the summer it seems a pity not just to be eating those ripe tomatoes raw. Anyhow, the kind of tinned tomatoes I use are packed in a pretty thick tomato puree. I think this made the whole dish less liquid and that this was a good idea.

2. Heat oil, onion, garlic and salt over medium heat untl the onion is soft and translucent. Add the tomatoes, squashing them in your fist. Stir to blend. Simmer uncovered until the sauce begins to thicken or whenever it seems right. Set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 400.

The Rest of the Ingredients

1 k/2 lb eggplant, sliced thin lengthways (no peeling, no salting)
2 l/qt peanut oil for deep frying (Oh no, not on your life. See 1. below)
Salt
500 gr/1 lb mozzarella, thinly sliced (Bulph! See 1. below)
125 gr/1 c parmesan, grated
125 ml/1/2 c basil leaves, snipped (Oops! See 1. below)

1. Oh no, not on your life. Brown the eggplant slices in a skillet in olive oil (and/or tasteless oil). You want to get them brown and cooked through until each piece is pretty mushy. This can be done in the oven (at 425) with each slice brushed with oil on both sides if you like. Anyhow, in my version you can't say how much oil will be used except that it will be lot less than 2 quarts.
Bulph! That really seems like too much mozzarella. I used half that amount: 250 gr/1/2 lb.
Oops! Even though the basil was sitting there on the kitchen counter I forgot it. And you know what? The dish was great without it. This could have been because I had some very, very nice eggplant (small ones with purple and white striped skin), but it also could be that the basil is not really necessary.

2. Don't forget about preheating the oven.

3. Put the browned and cooked eggplant slices on a plate. Put the mozzarella slices on a plate. Get a scoop for the tomato sauce. Grate the parmesan (and snip the basil if you are using it) and reserve it too.

4. Get a rectangular dish about 23x33 cm/9x13 inches. I used a glass one (as one would for lasagna or moussaka). Put some sauce, not a lot, on the bottom. Place one-third of the fried eggplant slices side by side over the sauce. Put a thin (?) layer of sauce on the eggplant. Cover with slices of mozzarella, using about half of the cheese. Continue with another layer of eggplant, a layer of sauce and about half of the parmesan. Last layer is remaining eggplant, sauce, mozzarella and parmesan. Fresh basil on top.

5. I did not use all the tomato sauce I had made. Instead I used my judgment about how much would be right and saved some tomato sauce to freeze for Diane (about a cup).

6. Bake until cheese is melted and everything bubbles, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and serve warm or room temp, but not cold. There is a lot of liquid, at least in Well's original version, but somewhat less as I made it. I read somewhere else that letting stuff like this stand for ten or so minutes was a good idea, so I did.

Some Additional Notes

1. Wells has a box in her book about not salting or peeling eggplant. She thinks that salting is for taking away "the bitter taste", in which case she is right: it doesn't work.

2. Wells says not to refrigerate the final dish because refrigeration changes the textures in it. I think she is probably right about that too.

3. We had this with a simple salad with a blue cheese dressing, and we all agreed that for some reason or another the flavour combination was perfect.