Eggplant Parmigiana

First, make the sauce. Get out a food processor and combine the garlic, onions, tomatoes, celery, carrots, and basil in its bowl. Puree it together into a gorgeous sauce base. Then heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Pour in the aromatic base and let it bubble and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add in the tomato paste and let it cook for another minute. Pour in the wine and let it cook off for another minute. Lastly, add in the crushed tomatoes, salt, black pepper and red pepper. Stir the sauce well and let it gently simmer for 2 hours.

While the sauce cooks, prepare the eggplant. Transfer the eggplant slices to a colander in your sink and sprinkle them generously with salt. Let them sit in the colander for an hour to draw out some of the moisture and bitterness. While it is sitting, set up the breading line. Whisk the flour, garlic powder and dried thyme together in a large, shallow bowl. Then crack the eggs into another large bowl and beat them thoroughly with the milk. Get the breadcrumbs into another bowl. Finally, set out a lined sheet tray to hold the breaded eggplant.

When the eggplant is done sitting in the salt, rinse it all with cold water and pat it dry with paper towel. Get a large, deep stainless steel skillet on the stove and fill it with about 2 inches of canola oil. Heat it up over medium high heat and use a deep fry thermometer to make sure the temperature stays around 370ºF. While the oil heats up (which takes a little while but keep an eye on it), bread the eggplant by dredging each slice through the flour first, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs to coat them well. Pile them on the lined sheet tray as you bread them.

Fry the eggplant in batches of about 4 to 5 slices for 2–3 minutes on each side. They should get gorgeously brown and crispy. When they’re done, transfer them to a platter lined with paper towel to drain and keep going until all of the eggplant is fried. It takes a little patience. While the frying is going on combine the mozzarella, fontina, and pecorino romano together in another large bowl and stir it all together well.

The sauce should be done around the same time you are done frying the eggplant. Take it off of the heat and pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. Get out a 9 x 13 lasagna pan and spread 1/4 of the sauce in the bottom. Follow that with a layer of 1/3 of the eggplant, 1/4 of the sauce spread out on the eggplant and 1/3 of the cheese spread out over the sauce. Repeat that again twice to have three gorgeous layers of eggplant, sauce and cheese. Top it all with a sprinkling of the parmesan cheese.

Bake the assembled eggplant parmigiana for 30 minutes to melt the cheese and let everything meld together. Take it out and let it cool for a couple of minutes, then garnish it with lots of chopped fresh basil on top. Cut it into the desired portions and serve immediately! This easily feeds 8 and makes great leftovers.