Dinner Fresh from Our Garden!

My husband, Andrew, and I planted our own vegetable garden this year. We had a whole bunch of tomatoes, peppers, and egg plant. We had a surplus of eggplant at one time, so I decided to make eggplant parmesan. I had an awesome recipe from the New York Times (August 2005) and I made some tweaking of my own. I will say that this made a boat load eggplant parm. We had left overs for quite some time. So feel free to scale back if you don't want to fuss with left overs.

Ingredients
2 lbs (2 large eggplants)
1 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (I used tomatoes from our garden but this is what the original calls for)
2 large cloves or 3 small cloves garlic, peeled, grated or minced (I grated mine)
Olive oil
Pepper/Salt (season to taste)
1 cup of GF flour (I use King Arthur's)
1 cup of GF bread crumbs
4 large eggs, beaten
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese (or more if you prefer)
1 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese (I use Beligioso)
1 cup of fresh basil leaves

Directions
1. Slice eggplants lengthwise into 1/4 or 1/2 inch slices. Arrange a layer into a colander and sprinkle with salt. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant. Put into sink and allow to drain for at least 2 hours. I put a couple heavy bowls on top to really drain excess water.

2. While eggplant is draining, make the sauce. In a food processor, blend garlic, tomatoes and about 1/3 cup of olive oil. Season with salt and better.

3. After the 2 hours, wipe off the salt from each slice and then sandwich the eggplant between paper towels to get out any extra moisture.

4. Combine flour and bread crumbs in a bowl, mix. In another bowl add the eggs.

5. Preheat a large skillet with no more than half an inch of olive oil.

6. Dredge eggplant into flour mix, dip into egg, dredge again into flour. Shake off excess during each step.

7. Carefully place eggplant into the pan. Fry on both sides and then drain onto a plate with paper towels.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

9. In a large baking dish (I used my Rachel Ray bubble dish), add about 1 cup of sauce to bottom of the pan. Sprinkle some mozzarella on top of the sauce. Place one layer of cooked eggplant on top of cheese/sauce. Top eggplant with mozzarella cheese, some parmesan, and basil.

10.Make another layer of eggplant, top with sauce, cheeses, and basil. Repeat until no eggplant remains.

11. Bake until the cheese on top is melted and slightly brown. It took about 35 minutes. Rest for about 10 minutes before you eat so you don't scorch your mouth!

Buon appetito, gluten free style!

-Mandy