Today I'm cooking eggplant parm.
I call 'em eggplant parm steak.
The most important thing about the eggplant
is to buy a heavy firm eggplant when you're choosing one.
I still salt mine, although modern farming
has bred out most of the bitterness.
I drain it for a good 30 minutes
before I process the steaks.
And when I say steaks, I mean steaks.
Nice, big, thick pieces of eggplant
rather than a million little discs that get all greasy
and more breading than eggplant.
As with all breading stations,
we have flour, egg, breadcrumb.
As with anything I bread,
any cutlet whether it's plant based or protein,
we want to season every layer, give every layer flavor.
The eggs have salt, the flour has salt and pepper.
I'm gonna mix that in.
The breadcrumbs, I really go nuts.
My Italian breadcrumb mix are toasted Italian breadcrumbs
with fresh finely chopped parsley, lemon zest,
or a ton of Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano.
One is cow's milk, one is sheep's milk,
or marry the two, put them both in there.
A little crushed red pepper flake for heat,
granulated garlic and onion,
they like to go everywhere together, they're buddies.
A little fennel pollen or ground fennel.
So, basically this tastes
like a cheesy sausage, your breadcrumbs.
And a little bit of oregano or marjoram
lightly crushed in your palm, mix that all together.
We set up our station
as close to the cooking oil as possible.
Anything we use for frying,
we want to be neutral and see-through.
The lighter the color of oil,
the lighter the flavor, and the higher the cooking temp.
So I use safflower oil primarily for frying,
and you guys know the drill here, right?
In a 14-inch skillet, you'll be able to fit
three or four steaks at a time.
Flour.
Egg.
And then take your time with the breadcrumb
and really press those crumbs in
to get them evenly distributed.
Now, whenever I fry anything,
I have a transfer tray ready to go
and the oven nice and hot at about 275.
Line the rimmed baking sheet with a wire metal rack.
That's so the heat can circulate and the breading
will not get gummy on the bottom, right?
So we keep it up on the rack
so the heat can go all the way around.
Drop these guys in.
It's shallow frying in about an eighth,
about an eighth to a half an inch of that innocuous oil
over medium to medium-high heat.
In this pan, I melted butter into oil, EVOO,
with some garlic.
I'm adding Italian crushed tomatoes,
that's all this needs.
If you don't use Italian tomatoes,
you may wanna add a pinch of sugar for sweetness
and a little salt.
And then at the very end, we're going to stir in
our quick basil pesto.
The lemon that I zested, I'm gonna add the juice
of the lemon to the food processor
with toasted pine nuts or pistachio nuts
or hazelnuts, they're all good.
Or even almonds, all of those work.
A couple of fat cloves of garlic,
the juice of the lemon we zested.
Again, Parmigiano which is cow's milk cheese
or Pecorino which is sheep's milk cheese,
and of course, couple fat handfuls of the basil.
I'm stirring our lemony basil pesto
into our sweet tomato sauce.
And here's how she rolls, okay?
You could put the sauce under or on top.
I like it on top 'cause we kept our eggplant steaks
nice and extra crispy in our oven.
275 on the wire rack lined baking sheet
so it stays crispy all over.
And then we pour that sauce down the middle,
and you pass extra at the table of course.
That super herb-y bright tomato basil sauce.
And by the way,
this is for one person.
And that one person is the person that's got the book
under the chair.
Duck. (audience applauding)
Now,
I'm topping this with some shredded cheese.
I like a combination of Mozzarella and Provolone.
Any easy melting cheese will do.
Now we will find out who's going to be eating this
as I pop it under the broiler.
You may look under your chairs,
let's find our eater.
(lighthearted music)
Yay! (audience applauding)
Hi, what's your name?
Hi, I'm Maureen Jeffries.
Hi Maureen, do you like eggplant?
I love eggplant.
If you didn't, I'd be really sad.
(Maureen laughing)
(audience applauding) (lighthearted music)