help me with eggplant parm?

[Maggi315]

Hi,
I was at a birth a few months ago and the family made eggplant parm. I hadn't had it in years, I remembered not liking it growing up. however, theirs was great. it was very simple too, cut thin, put in egg then in breadcrumbs, then fry in a little oil, they used coconut oil.

I tried to make it again this week with my daughters and it was horrible. I am sure I am missing something. the outside wasn't crisp at all, and the eggplant was either mushy or tasted raw in some spots.

I'm not much of a cook, but would love to cook this better!

thanks,

[babygrant]

This is the way i do it:

Peel eggplant and cut into 1" thick slices. Put in strainer and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for about an hour.

After an hour, rinse eggplant off. Dry. Mix 2 eggs with about 1 tbsp water. Dip egg in water and then dredge in italian seasoned bread crumbs.

Heat oil (this is the trick to getting crispy stuff). Fry eggplant until crispy.

Put in the bottom of a cake pan. Dump spaghetti sauce on top and sprinkle with mozarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 375 for about an hour.

[Llyra]

Yeah, that. I make it just exactly like that. One thing-- you may not need to salt your eggplant if it's fresh, young, local eggplant, but older eggplant and eggplant that's been shipped a long way to get to your store will need salting to keep it from tasting bitter.

[Maggi315]

Thanks! I will definitely try this. Good to know about the salt too, that might have been part of the taste problem, this was an eggplant I bought from the store, not a local one.

I appreciate the help! seems like such a little thing, but I would love to be able to make and eat this!

[journeymom]

Originally Posted by Maggi315

Hi,
I was at a birth a few months ago and the family made eggplant parm. I hadn't had it in years, I remembered not liking it growing up. however, theirs was great. it was very simple too, cut thin, put in egg then in breadcrumbs, then fry in a little oil, they used coconut oil.

I tried to make it again this week with my daughters and it was horrible. I am sure I am missing something. the outside wasn't crisp at all, and the eggplant was either mushy or tasted raw in some spots.

I'm not much of a cook, but would love to cook this better!

thanks,

To get it crunchy be sure the oil is hot enough. That's usually what's up when my fried food is soggy, the oil isn't hot enough so the breading absorbs the oil, rather than the oil simply surrounding it and cooking it through.

[SophieAnn]

Yes, I do all this above, except I do a layered thing.

I get a station all set up with:
- Baking pan (9x9 or 9x13 lasagne type pan)
- Sauce
- Grated cheeses
- Eggplant
- Eggs
- Breadcrumbs

In the baking pan I layer:
- bit of sauce

- layer of breaded pan-fried eggplant
- sauce
- grated cheese

Repeat last 3 layers until all the eggplant is gone. Bake in the oven until all bubbly and melty.

I don't find that the finished product is crunchy, because the sauce absorbs into the breading. But it is darned good!