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First, slice the ends off of the
eggplant, and then cut it into nice thick slices. (About 1/2 inch
thick) |
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Here you can see that I'm removing the
large portion of skin from the side of the eggplant...not really necessary, but
some people like less skin. |
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Place the sliced eggplant into a
colander, rinse it, and let it sit while you move on to the next
steps. |
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While the eggplant is sweating in the
sink, get your pan, and start heating up your olive oil...you don't really need
that much, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. You want the oil to be
plenty hot when you put the eggplant in, because if the oil is too cool, the
eggplant will soak up the oil, and won't brown up quickly. |
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Mix up two or three eggs in a bowl or
deep platter, and add some milk to help get it nice and creamy, and put a fair
amount of flour on a plate or cookie sheet, and give it some seasonings... I
just use some black pepper, and fresh minced garlic (in a pinch, garlic powder
will do). |
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Take the sliced eggplant, and place it
into the egg batter... coat each piece well, and allow them to soak while
you're letting your pan of oil get hot. |
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Try not to allow too much of the egg
batter to drip off as you are placing it into the flour...it helps to create a
nice crust when you brown the eggplant in the pan. |
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While the pan is getting hot on the
stove, take each piece of egg battered eggplant, and coat them generously with
your flour mixture. |
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You'll need to press down on each piece
of eggplant, and make sure that they have a nice coat of
flour. |
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Here is our beautifully coated eggplant,
ready for the frying pan. |
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Just make sure that your oil is good and
hot... I can't stress enough how important this is if you want your eggplant to
keep some of its texture. Allowing the eggplant to sit in cool oil, just makes
soggy eggplant. When the oil is good and hot, the egg batter sears on the
outside of the eggplant. Eggplant only needs a few minutes to cook, and it will
have a nice light brown coating on it. |
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Your eggplant is done when it has a nice
brown coating to it. |
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We are using wide egg noodles today, but
you can use whatever kind of pasta you like...Place the pasta in an oven-safe
container...it doesn't matter if you use a pie dish, or a cake pan...whatever
you have available will work. |
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Sprinkle the pasta with your cheese. I
like to use a little mozzarella in the noodles, because it ends up with a nice
texture, but using just grated parmesan all by itself, it great
too. |
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Now, spoon in some of your pasta sauce
on top of the pasta and cheese. |
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Place your slices of eggplant on top of
that. |
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Put some more tomato sauce on top of the
eggplant, and then add some more parmesan. |
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Put the dish in the oven on 350 degrees
for about 20 minutes...If you want to brown the top a little bit, like I've
done, just turn on the broiler for a few minutes at the end...be sure to watch
it though, because its already plenty hot, and it will only take a few
minutes. |
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Well there it is... looks delicious, and
since we made this last night, and had it for dinner, I can also tell you that
it tasted incredibly good, too. There are some leftovers, so I think I'll go
heat some up for breakfast this morning... Enjoy! |
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