Recipes For 2006

Lasagnette of Eggplant and Goat Cheese

2 eggplants, about 2 1/2 lbs total
Sea salt
2 to 4 cups olive oil for frying
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup Wondra
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 qt tomato sauce
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 pound goat cheese
3 tbsp fine dried breadcrumbs

Peel and slice the eggplant lengthwise and sprinkle generously with salt. Place in colander and let drain for at least an hour. Rinse in cold water and pat dry.

Pout the olive oil into a large skillet to a depth of one inch and place over medium heat.
Preheat oven to 3750 degrees.

Season the flour and Wondra with pepper. Dredge eggplant slices on flour both sides. Fry in skillet turning once until light brown about 2 minutes.

Drain on paper towel. Add more oil if necessary to fry all the eggplant.

Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 2 1/2 qrt baking dish. Arrange a layer of eggplant over the sauce. Spread on another layer of sauce and sprinkle with 2 tbsp of Parmesan, 1 tbsp of parsley and dot with 1/3 of the goat cheese. Repeat layering twice. Do not press down on the layers. Top with remaining eggplant then another thin layer sauce. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan abet 3 tbsp and parsley about 2 tbsp and the 3 tbsp breadcrumbs.

Bake until browned and bubbling about 30 minutes. Do not over brown. Let rest before cutting.

Serves 6 as a main course.

Leftovers are awesome put into a grinder roll and topped with fresh mozzarella cheese and placed until broiler until the cheese melts. YUM!