Smokey Eggplant Parm (SEpP)

A dreary rainy day + over indulgence the night before
= Smokey Eggplant Parm (SEpP)

I absolutely love EpP, but it can be greasy, over-cheesed and flat tasting. In this recipe, I try to crank it up with smokiness, lightness and flavor density. Making this dish is more like Shoah than When Harry Met Sally; it’s a grueling marathon that will push the temperature in your apartment over the 4,000 degree mark. And there is a point when you’ll wonder if you should just cut your losses. But it’s so sincerely and completely delicious (and such a major crowd pleaser) that you just have to do it.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cans Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Whole Tomatoes
• 1 ball fresh smoked mozzarella < 1 pound
• 6 – 8 ounces of good grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 Jefferson Market andouille sausages (substitute any tender, spicy, smokey andouille that’s NOT precooked. I’ve not had a better sausage anywhere ever.)
• 2 small to medium onions or one gigantic one
• 1 medium to large eggplant
• 3 – 4 eggs (or as needed for breading)
• Seasoned breadcrumbs (for that traditional feeling)
• 2 cups of unimpressive red wine
• 4 – 8 toes of garlic, squished and roughly chopped to taste
• A good amount of fresh or dry basil to taste
• ½ teaspoon of fresh nutmeg
• Salt, pepper and olive oil as necessary

THE SAUCE

1. Chop the onions. Heat up a sauce pan with some olive oil in it and get them cooking. Add a healthy pinch of salt and pepper. Give the onions a good 10 minutes before you add anything else.

2. Take the andouille, slice them lengthwise and take off the casing. Chop them into chunks and toss them in with the onions. They don’t really need to be “browned”, but you do want them hanging out with the onions so they communicate all the andoo-y goodness.

Let the andouille cook completely with the onions. 12 – 15 minutes.

3. Peel, stomp and roughly chop the garlic and toss it in a minute or two before you add the tomatoes and other ingredients. Grate about half a teaspoon of nutmeg, or as much of one nutmeg nut as you can without grating your fingertips.

If you’re using dry basil, toss in tablespoon or two now so it cooks with the sauce. If you’re using fresh, wash it to make sure it’s not sandy or gritty, then layer it in later when you’re assembling the dish before baking.

4. Open one can of tomatoes and add the contents, whole, to the pan. Add 2 cups of red wine to the pan.

Obviously, you’re not going to cook Kistler or Cakebread into this sauce, but you should use a wine that tastes good and that you wouldn’t mind drinking if it showed up in a glass rather than a sauce.

So we’ve now introduced a “Hurricane Katrina” level of wetness to this sauce. My recommendation is that you let this cook down for about 2 hours UNCOVERED (except for one of those anti-splatter screens). This is the whole point: cook it down and achieve flavor density. You could add tomato paste to thicken it, but it’s not really necessary. Be patient and let the sauce happen. Trust me, you’ll have plenty to do while the sauce shrinks.

THE EGGPLANT

My personal preference is to slice, bread and bake the eggplant, as opposed to frying it. This makes it drier, firmer and less greasy. I suppose you could do them on the stovetop in a cast iron skillet with olive oil, but that usually ends with the smoke alarm blaring and a kitchen smelling like burnt olive oil. As long as you’re not using a Fry Daddy/deep fryer, you’ll be OK.

1. I like thin slices, between an 1/8” and 1/16”. If you have a mandolin (like this fancy one my Mom (“Milliemom”) gifted us from William-Sonoma back during the Punic Wars). The thin slices are part of what makes this a crowd pleaser; people who don’t like eggplant love this dish because the eggplant texture is neutralized. The thin slices are good because they’re more delicate and unlike chewing space shuttle re-entry tiles.

2. Beat three eggs in a bowl (with a pinch of salt) and put breadcrumbs in another bowl. I think the 4c seasoned Italian breadcrumbs give it an old-fashioned taste, but you could also get rustic and make your own.

• Dredge eggplant in beaten eggs
• Dredge eggy eggplant in breadcrumbs
• Put on non-stick baking sheet (no olive oil)

Set up an assembly line so that you can dip the eggplant into the eggs, then the breadcrumbs and then have somewhere to put it (a baking or cookie sheet).

If you can do it with one hand and keep the second hand dry and clean, you’ll be less likely to inadvertently splatter raw egg on the wall and drive a painful wedge between your spouse and yourself.

We have a tiny oven so I invariably have to do 14,000 batches. It’s annoying and time-consuming, especially if you soaked your empty empty head with Makers Mark the night before. Suck it up and press on. Consider a hair of the dog. You could probably get them toastier than the ones I’ve pictured here, but what did you expect, I’m hung over.

ASSEMBLY

So your sauce is nice and thick. Taste it. Do you love it? Is it winey and smokey? Does it need salt? This is your moment to doctor it. If it’s not smoky enough, you could add some liquid smoke. This is not my preference as it makes the Wife a little freaked out (it’s natural, I don’t know what her deal is… she smokes cigars for Christ’s Sake!) and even a small spill can turn the dish into garish bordello of inedible burnt garbage. So be judicious if you choose that path.

1. Liberally coat a baking dish (with good high sides) with decent olive oil. Slice the mozzarella (1/4” – 1/3” slices should do the trick).

2. Build the Parm. Your goal should be three layers, plus sauce and cheese on top. The order of the layers should be:

• Eggplant
• Mozzarella
• Sauce
• (Fresh basil if you’re using it)
• Parmesan

3. Open the second can of tomatoes and split the whole tomatoes by hand and lay them on top. If the parm seems too dry, use the liquid from the can to compensate. Bake at 450 for an hour.

Definitely don’t make SEpP for your used-to-live-on-a-parsley-juice-drinking-holistic-health-commune brother, because he simple won’t eat nightshades.