15 Oct 2011
Eggplant Parmesean - another version….
Sometimes you find a recipe and you want to try it out right away. Like, you obsess over it. Such was the case when I came across this recipe from a wine blog that I follow, “On the Wine Trail” written by Alfonso Cevola. Not only does the man know his vino, he knows food as well. In any case, as you can see from the recipe linked, this is a pretty rustic dish - and the components are a no brainer: eggplant (roasted/grilled), eggs, mozz (both fresh and shredded), marinara, parm? NO BRAINER.
Later in the week, I picked up all the ingredients and went to work (adding spinach as my twist on the recipe). You may be pleased to know that your local TJ’s carries everything you’d need for the recipe - but as with any recipe, the quality of ingredients will have a direct impact on the overall dish. I boiled the eggs, grilled the eggplant, and layered away.
A few thoughts on the first night:
“shit, I used too much marinara, and maybe I was too heavy-handed with the marinara.” Note: my thoughts on the mozz were disputed on twitter.
As you can see from the pictures above, the cheese got a bit stringy and between the marinara and the liquid released from the eggplant (I only lightly grilled the slices, I imagine if you spent more time grilling/roasting them - there would be less liquid released) there was a lot of liquid in the dish. In addition to that, the eggplant was still rather tough, so I knew I had to cook it longer. So I poured off the excess liquid and put the dish in the fridge.
Day 2: poured out any additional liquid that collected and put the dish back in a low oven and waited patiently. After an hour at 300 (the dish covered with foil) - I took the dish back out. Dramatic improvement in the dish. Like similar dishes (see: casseroles, bakes) - the layers had time to coalesce and the flavors merged. On Day 2, the flavors were much better. Paired with a 2005 Benanti Nerello Mascalese (Il Monovitigno), rustic in its own right (rustic nose, but light body - even effervescent in a sense, interesting wine) - the dish sang.
Highly recommended, easy peasy
