Baked Eggplant with Mozzarella and Homemade Marinara

Based on this recipe from Food and Wine.

Working for the Greenmarkets means Zach is constantly bringing home delicious summer produce at the height of its ripeness. With access to wholesalers at Hunt's Point Terminal Market, Zach decided to can a 25 pound case of roma tomatoes for the winter.  Around the same time, he brought home these adorable white and purple baby eggplants, so I decided some fresh marinara baked goodness was in order.

Having never really cooked with eggplant before, I took direction from this Food and Wine recipe, which begins with the instruction to salt the eggplant in order to remove excess water.  This goes along way in discouraging the mush factor--I'd recommend doing this longer than you expect, eggplants are deceptively moist.

I came up with this marinara recipe in college, after realizing how much sugar is in store-bought sauce, and usually doctoring mine with extra red pepper and balsamic anyway.  The measurements aren't exact, so be sure to taste as you go.

Manda's Marinara

3-4 medium sized cloves garlic, minced
1 medium shallot, chopped
3 cups tomato, chopped (or 16 ounce can of chopped/crushed tomatoes)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1-2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste
splash of lemon juice

In a saucepan, saute the garlic and shallot in the olive oil over medium high until the shallot is translucent and garlic is aromatic. Add the tomato, Balsamic, lemon and spices, and bring to almost a boil to cook down some of the water in the tomatoes.  Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes to continue thickening, or until ready to serve.






Baked Eggplant with Mozzarella
2 medium eggplants (or the equivalent), sliced into rounds
olive oil for frying
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 pound fresh mozzarella, sliced
1 cup loosely-packed basil, coarsely chopped

Salt both sides of eggplant rounds and layer them on a plate between two layers of paper towel. Cover with a plate and weight down to press out and absorb excess moisture, and let stand for 30 minutes or more. Pat the slices dry when finished. In a large skillet, fry the slices in about 1/8 inch of olive oil until brown and tender, a couple minutes on each side, adding more oil as needed. Transfer to a paper towel to drain.

On the bottom of a lightly greased baking or casserole dish, sprinkle a thin layer of breadcrumbs.  I didn't have any, so I toasted a couple slices of fresh sourdough bread until they were totally dried out (but not burnt) and crumbled them coarsely with my hands.  Arrange the fried eggplant slices in a layer in the dish, overlapping slightly.  Cover with a layer of marinara sauce, and then slices of mozzarella and sprinkled basil. I also mixed in larger croutons of the bread here and there, which helped make the texture less monotonous.  Repeat these layers until you reach the top of the baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees until warmed through (if you made the marinara, this all pretty much a formality), or about 20 minutes.  After baking, remove the foil and transfer to a broiler for a few minutes, just long enough to brown the cheese.  Let stand for 10-15 minutes and then serve!