Tonight I got to take over my parents' kitchen, which is SO much bigger and nicer than my studio apartment kitchen. I originally intended to make dinner for my parents for a change, but then they started talking about Italian Sausage and I decided just to worry about my own meal.
The most important first part of any and every recipe is to pour yourself a glass of wine before you do anything else. My favorite thing to do is put music on full blast, drink a lot of wine and dance around my kitchen while cooking. This is why I live alone.
Now, moving on to the actual recipe. I diced a few roma tomatoes -- removing the seeds and mushy part on the inside -- chopped the basil and minced two cloves of garlic.
Next I combined the tomatoes, basil and garlic with a little bit of salt, pepper and olive oil. I put the mixture in the fridge for a bit just so the flavors have a chance to marinade.
Slice the eggplant in circles, about a half inch in thickness. You can certainly peel the eggplant if you don't like the toughness of it, but I just left the skin on, out of pure laziness, to be honest.
Next, you'll need two large shallow bowls. Fill one with plain breadcrumbs, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese, dried basil, salt and pepper. You can buy seasoned breadcrumbs, but I think the flavors are a little more noticeable when they are fresh ingredients that you add yourself. The other bowl is for one beaten egg.
Now comes the messy part. Dip the eggplant in the egg first, then the breadcrumbs. You are supposed to use one of your hands for the wet egg part and the other hand for the dry breadcrumbs, but somehow I always end up with breaded fingers.
As long as your finished product looks something like this, you're good.
Next comes the dangerous part. Messy? Dangerous? I'm really selling this recipe, aren't I? I promise it's not that bad, I'm just really good at exaggerating. Heat a shallow pan or frying pan on medium with about a half inch of vegetable oil. You can test to make sure the oil is hot enough by dropping a tiny pinch of breadcrumbs into the oil. If it forms small bubbles around the breadcrumbs, the oil is ready for the eggplant.
VERY carefully place the eggplant into the oil, using a fork to prevent splashing. You could also bake these if you want to avoid frying, but why would you want to do that?
After one or two minutes, flip the eggplant over. It should start to form a golden brown crust.
You can use a fork to flip them over and also test the softness of the eggplant. Once they are ready, place them on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.
Next comes the fun part. See? FUN. That's a positive descriptive word. Place your eggplant on a plate and then top with fresh mozzarella cheese slices. I like to season my mozzarella with salt and pepper to bring out more flavor. Then top each eggplant slice with the tomato basil mixture.
I also had some premade balsamic glaze that I drizzled on top. Ta-da! Doesn't that look amazing? It tastes pretty good too.
My mom made this giant bowl of penne pasta with a homemade tomato sauce.
And this was our family feast!
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