Eggplant parmesan with whole wheat spaghetti

I love eggplant parmesan, when it’s done correctly! I’m not saying my way is “THE Right Way” but it works pretty well for me… what I DON’T like in an eggplant parmesan is bitterness or too-tough-ness due to undercooked eggplant. Soggy breading is also a downer.

So here’s how I avoid those pitfalls.

First, bitterness. What I always knew to be “the way” to take bitterness out of the eggplant was to sprinkle it with kosher salt to draw out a lot of the bitter juices… wait about 20 minutes, then rinse off and pat dry.

But in my research for this article on blanching (which I wrote to be published at StartCooking.com), I learned that blanching can also take bitterness out of things, like broccoli rabe.

It also starts the cooking process for things like broccoli and cauliflower… that you might want to throw into a stir-fry but don’t want to stir-fry forever (because it’ll get limp and soak up a lot of oil). So I decided to blanch my eggplant slices to combat too-toughness from undercooking AND sogginess from over-cooking in the breading.

I had read on a chart that for 3/4 inch slices, you should blanch them for 3 minutes, but I think that was a little too long. I’d probably do 1.5 to 2 minutes next time.

Anyway, you throw them in the boiling water for a couple minutes, then into ice water to stop the cooking.

(Here, I’m pushing the slices into the boiling water with my tongs.)

The skin kind of shriveled, but that wasn’t an issue in the final product.

Then I dried the slices off, and coated them in flour…

Then dipped them in an egg wash followed by Italian breadcrumbs (oops! Didn’t take pictures of those.) Then they go into the pre-warmed pan with pre-warmed olive oil. The ones in the back here have obviously already been flipped.

When they’re all brown and delicious looking, throw them into a baking dish with a little spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese on top. I only put a tiny bit of sauce (again, to combat the soggy eggplant parmesan problem). I can always add more sauce later on my dish, you know? Anyway…

Then stick the whole thing in a warm oven until the cheese melts. And you’ve got eggplant Parmesan! I made some of that whole wheat pasta too, and it was really nice together.