Less Muffin Top more Eggplant Parmesean

Apart from the fact this dish is not dripping in oil, I like it because baking instead of frying the eggplant, gives it a solid crunch.  Pair that with the cheesy cheese and garlicky sauce and you’ll see why my maiden name is Croatian for Italian. 

If the recipe looks like a mission. Do not panic.  The sauce and baked eggplant can be made way ahead of time.  Assembling it later is a snap.

2 cups or cans of tomatoes 
3 cloves of garlic
A good bunch of basil.  Tear it up.
A shake of chili peppers
Salt and pepper
2 Eggplants sliced into rounds
2 cups of bread-crumbs mixed with 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup of flour
A big chunk or two of mozzarella sliced into thick pieces.

Preheat oven to 450.  
If using fresh tomatoes toss in boiling water to blanch and remove the skin.  Puree tomato in blender.  In a decent sized pan cook garlic in a little olive oil.  Add tomato puree, basil,chili, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 30min. 

To prep the eggplant put flour, breadcrumb/parm mix and whisked eggs in separate shallow plates.  Line them up. Now coat each slice of eggplant with flour then egg then plenty of bread-crumb mix.  Bake on lightly greased oven tray for 10min or until crisp and golden.  (I make these way ahead of time)

Assemble.  Put a little sauce on the bottom of an oven proof dish. Then a layer of Eggplant, a layer of cheese, a layer sauce and so on. Grate some parmesan on top. Bake at 350 for 40min or until bubbling.