Seriously, you can eat the eggplant this way with a bit of Parmigiano sprinkled on it as a side dish,or as part of a fritto misto with other vegetables. To continue with this dish, arrange the fried eggplant in a baking dish and drizzle it with tomato sauce (the recipe I gave is fine). Sprinkle it with Parmigiano and heat it through in the oven for 15 minutes or so at 350.
If you like you can also use some mozzarella, but to my way of thinking it is not authentic.
In addition, when I mentioned Grana--it is a grating cheese similar to Parm, that contains some wheat--in this regard it makes the egg batter stick a bit better. What to do with the leftover batter? Fry it at the end like little fritters!!!
More about frying soon.

Eggplant parmigiano--this dish is either one of the best things anyone could ever eat--or a soggy mess. but, like piecrust, it's all technique. Always try to select medium sized, firm eggplants--i like to peel them in "stripes" so that you have some of the skin intact.Cut them into rounds, treat them with salt, and let them render their moisture as decribed in the last blog.

For the egg mixture you will need:

4-6 eggs

1/4 cup of finely chopped parsley

2/3 to 1 cup of grated parmigiano (or grana padano) i'll explain later

and salt and pepper to taste

Dredge the treated eggplant which have been blotted dry in a coating of flour--shake off the excess. Dip the eggplant into the egg mixture and fry until golden on both sides.

At this point you may just devour the eggplant without going any further, but get a grip!

Getting back to the eggplant rant--the best recipe for rattatouille is from Julia Child in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" volume one. As you can tell from the name, this is the (classic) French preparation of eggplant. Follow the recipe the way it is written--don't add a bunch of seasonings or herbs. Above all, the ingredients are cooked separately and combined to create a dish where all the components are discernable. Any cooking worth eating is worth the attention it requires. Eat this with roasted chicken or pork, or with any preparation of lamb, of course.
Next time I'll give you my method for eggplant Parmigiano--I'll gaurantee no one makes it better.

Salt and eggplants

Another thing I have been thinking about is eggplant--this is a vegetable, a melon, really, that gets a bad rap more often than not. There are a few reasons: it's a member of the nightshade family (although not everyone knows that) it's bitter--can be slimy and if not treated properly soaks up WAY too much oil and can become really fattening.

Not to be too egocentric about it, but more than one person has told me they have never eaten eggplant as good as I make it. Here's why---eggplant needs to be treated before it's cooked. By this I mean it needs to be salted so that its texture is essentially changed by eliminating the water that is mostly what this odd melon is composed of---

This treatment makes the eggplant a bit tougher, and eliminates the bitterness. In addition, it won't soak up so much oil in the cooking regardless of the dish you are making.

Cut the eggplant into the shape that you are wanting,(i.e. rounds for eggplant Parmigiana) and salt it --kosher salt is good for this. Let it sit on a wire rack or in a colander for at least a half hour( if you are dying to eat it and forgot this step) or as long as overnight if you are ahead of the curve! A couple hours is good. Now it can either be rinsed and patted dry or just patted dry, but REALLY dry it, either with a clean tea towel or paper towels. Now you are ready to make the best ratatouille, eggplant Parmigiana, grilled eggplant or eggplant salad on earth. I'll give ya the recipes next time--'til then, salt is your friend.