Eggplant Parmigiana

Although the weather has been very hot & muggy here, I made eggplant parmigiana on Sunday for dinner and it was wonderful. It is meatless but still satisfying and it really feels like comfort food. Serve this with a green salad or some summer veggies. Tonight we had the leftovers and I boiled some fresh peaches & cream corn-on-the-cob and had a simple salad with olive oil & lemon juice.

Eggplant Parmigiana

Makes a 13x9 pan

Olive oil for frying
2 or 3 eggs
1/3 c. milk
1 c. flour
2 c. or so bread crumbs
1/2 c. parmigiana reggianno
2 regular eggplants
3 c. tomato sauce (fresh or large can of spaghetti sauce works fine)
1 ball of mozzarella (I think it is almost a pound)

1. Mix the flour with salt & pepper and place in a bowl that will be big enough to dip the eggplant slices. Mix the eggs and milk together in a similar sized bowl. Then mix the bread crumbs and parm together.
2. Wash and peel the egg plant, if you desire. I usually peel some skin and leave the rest (creating a striped eggplant). Slice lengthwise in 1 cm slices.
3. Heat some olive oil in large frying pan. While oil is heating up, start breading the eggplant. Dip eggplant piece in flour, then egg mixture, and then the bread crumbs. Make sure the olive oil is hot enough so that it doesn't soak into the eggplant as soon as you place it in the pan. Fry until crispy on each side and place on paper towel to drain any excess oil off.
4. Spread some tomato sauce on the bottom of the 13x9 pan. Place eggplant pieces on top of sauce. Spread some sauce on each slice of eggplant and then top with a thin slice of mozzarella. Continue this until all the eggplant is used up. Sprinkle the top with parm and bake uncovered for a 1/2 hour or so in 350 degree oven.

*This is my own rendition of this recipe so I am just estimating at the amounts. If you don't want left overs, I would suggest using only 1 large eggplant.
*I make my own breadcrumbs from my favourite everyday bread, Ace Bakery Foccacia. We eat the bread until it starts to get stale and then I run it through the food processor and pop the crumbs into the freezer. You wouldn't believe how handy those fresh bread crumbs are!
*I have made this recipe with zucchini instead of eggplant. It was really good too. The zucchini were more delicate and it is a great way to use up some of the extra ones from your garden. I don't have a garden yet, but when I do, look out!