A Fistful of Eggplant Parm

Hey everyone! Last week I didn't find the time to make some scrumptious dish, so this week I'm  trying to make up for that with a sandwich that could feed a whole family. The Italian/American classic : " Eggplant Parmesan "

Some ingredients

Ingredients

- 6 Roma tomatoes

- 2 eggplants

- 1 eschalot

- 2 bayleaves

- a handfull of chopped basil

- thyme

- oregano

- 3 cloves of garlic ( I used smoked garlic )

- marjoram

- rosemary

- parsley

- Parmigiano Reggiano

- buffalo milk mozzarella

- 3 slices of Provolone cheese

- rocket salad

- panko or breadcrumbs (panko tends to be crispier)

- baguette

- 3 eggs

- plain flour

- 1 tbs of sugar

- rock salt

- black pepper

Preparation ( tomato sauce )

Boil water in a pot. While you wait for the water to boil you can start by finely slicing the eschalots and 1 clove of garlic. Cut a cross in the top of the tomatoes and drop them in the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Peel the tomatoes, remove the seeds an cut into small dices. Heat up oil in a pot and cook the eschalots and the garlic for about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, bayleaves, thyme, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, sugar and the chopped basil. Turn down the heat and leave it to simmer for at least 40 minutes. In the end add salt and pepper.

Preparation ( deep fried eggplant )

Start by whisking the 3 eggs in a bowl. Add flour on a plate. Finely slice the parsley, and mix it with the panko on a plate. Cut the eggplant in slices ( about 0.5 cm thick ). Heat up your fryer ( 130 degrees Celsius ) and add 2 cloves of crushed garlic to the oil. Flour the eggplant slice on each side, dip in the eggs and finally put the slice in the panko until each side is covered. Now repeat with all the slices. Deepfry the eggplant until golden brown and put them on some kitchen paper. 

Preparation ( A Fistful of Eggplant Parm )

Cut the baguette in 2 pieces ( put it under a grill first to make it more crispy ). Now the following part is how I assembled my sandwich but you can do it any way you like. 
Cover the bottom part with some tomato sauce
add parmesan
slices of eggplant
tomato sauce
parmesan
provolone cheese
slices of eggplant 
tomato sauce
parmesan
buffalo milk mozzarella. 
Put under a grill, and let the cheese melt. At the end put some rocket salad on the mozzarella and put on the top half of the baguette.

A Fistfull of Eggplant Parm

Music
The music that I chose for this dish was the result of the perfect marriage between Italian and American cinema. The Spaghetti Western. Made famous by Italian director Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone. This is probably the most famous song by Ennio Morricone. Enjoy!

Ennio Morricone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BQKFs3-VM