Did you just say Eggplant?

Yes, eggplant.  I am a fan.  Maybe it's because it's a purple vegetable and not green, but I love eggplant.  I don't love like I love zucchini because that's a whole separate and different level of love.  But I really do love me some eggplant.

I don't cook with eggplant a lot because *whispers* the weeone thinks she doesn't like it.  She does.  I know this because I've covered it in amazing sauces before and she ate it.  She just didn't know what she ate.  Stealth Momma....that's me.

This time, I put it all out on the table and showed her my cards.  I informed her that she was going to be having eggplant for dinner.  Her reaction?  "Okay."  Um...well, that was anti-climatic!

So I had these two pretty eggplants ( good eggplant should be firm, don't be fooled into squishy ones!)

I sliced the eggplants into 1/2 inch slices, salted them and let them drain for about thirty minutes.  Eggplant are a watery bunch and if you're gonna fry 'em, and we are, then you've gotta drain 'em.  Two reasons - #1 watery things make hot oil jump out of the pan and do damage to your face and #2 watery things get soggy when breaded and fried.

Once they were good and drained, they went into bathe in egg and breadcrumbs.  Now, I did not flour before the egg wash and crumbs because I thought I'd save a few calories along the way - I didn't miss it in the final product.

After I got them all well dredged and coated, it was time to spend some time in the cast iron skillet!  I heated up some vegetable oil - not tons, just enough to thoroughly coat for pan-frying and started making the eggplant crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The last step of eggplant parmesan is the layering and baking!!!  In a baking dish I layered marinara, eggplant, sliced mozzarella, grated parmesan, marinara, eggplant, sliced mozzarella and more grated parmesan.  Yum.  A slice of mozzarella may or may not have been ingested along the way.  Don't judge.  ;D

Into the oven this went until it was all hot, melted and bubbly with a slight browned top.

Eggplant Parmesan Success!!!  It's not neat and pretty, but my belly (and the weeone) said it's good.  Now, go try it!