Eggplant Parmesan Stack

We needed to use up our leftover mozzerella and tomato sauce from making pizza last week, and eggplant is pretty much our go-to emergency vegetable, but we decided we were too lazy to make eggplant parmesan. plus, i've always been a little bit suspicious of the strategy of breading and deep-frying the eggplant until its nice and crispy, and then immediately dumping sauce all over it and baking it until it turns back into mush. what's the point? so instead we decided to make stacks by slicing the eggplant thinner than usual, breading and frying it, then briefly placing it until the broiler with some mozz and stacking it with the cheese. the result, in my opinion, is just as comforting as eggplant parmesan, half the wait and effort, and extra-crispy-burnt-cheesy. the only thing this lacked was some fresh basil to top it off (because we are too poor to buy it).



Eggplant Parmesan Stack

1 eggplant
2 or 3 eggs
flour
breadcrumbs
mozzerella
parmesan
tomoato sauce (make it yerself! it's easy!)
fresh basil (optional but awesome)

Slice up your eggplant, maybe 1/4" or less, but not paper-thin. be careful to make them all pretty consistent in width. line a cutting board with paper towels, spread the eggplant on top, salt them pretty heavily, and cover with more paper towels. top with another cutting board and weigh it down with pots and pans or whatever else heavy you've got around. let it hang out for 1/2 hr - 1 1/2 hours, whatever works for you. press out as much moisture as possible, and brush off the extra salt. heat up a good amount of oil in a pan - you don't need to deep-fry them, but the oil needs to go half-way up their sides to get em hot enough to cook inside. Dip each slice first in flour, then in egg, then in breadcrumbs, shaking off the extra of each as you go. fry a few at a time, adjusting the heat as you go so that each side takes about 1 minute. Turn on the broiler while you fry.

Once you've got a few done, spread them out on a baking sheet, cover each with a little mozzerella, and put them under the broiler briefly. watch carefully - they go from unmelted to dark brown fast. take em out, stack em with some tomato sauce and (optionally) basil, and top with some parmesan. you're done!