Eggplant Parmesan Stacks!

I love eggplant Parmesan.  It's so delicious!  However, sometimes I just don't have the time or energy to bread and fry all those eggplants.  So, while watching my new favorite daytime television show, "The Chew,"  my friend Mario Batali gave me an awesome recipe that cuts my eggplant Parmesan making time in half... and is a bit healthier too!!

When I made these, I set off the fire alarm.  I was toasting my homemade bread crumbs... that I made from homemade bread and all of a sudden they were burnt! So the fire alarm went off and I was totally off my game man.  Note, lightly toast your breadcrumbs over medium low heat.  It was just one of those crabby nights when I wanted everything to turn out perfect and they didn't.  These still tasted amazing, next time I make them, I'll make my sauce beforehand so I'm not doing 10 million things at once.  Sometimes that's what you get when you make everything from scratch.  Making things ahead of time is probably a good thing. 

Anyway here is the recipe that I got from the Chew website. Delicious!

Eggplant Parmesan Stacks

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 large purple eggplants (sliced in 1 inch rounds)

1 head of garlic cloves (peeled and thinly sliced)

1 cup basil leaves

2 cup tomato sauce

1.5 balls of mozzarella (sliced into 1/4 in rounds)

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoons chili flake

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus 1/4 cup)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Lay out eggplant rounds on cookie sheets in single layers. Cut 2-3 slits per round, large enough to stuff a garlic slice into each slit. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast until soft and cooked completely, about 10-15 minutes.

Mix bread crumbs, thyme and chili flakes together. Heat saute pan over medium heat and add 1/4 cup olive oil. Once hot, add bread crumb mixture and toast until golden brown. Remove bread crumbs from pan onto a paper towel lined plate. (make sure not to burn like me!)

Remove eggplant from oven and let cool just slightly, enough so you can handle. Reuse a cookie sheet and build stacks of eggplant parm. Begin with a slice of eggplant and layer with 2-3 leaves of basil, smear with a couple tablespoons of tomato sauce and top with a slice of mozzarella and pinch of parmesan. Build two layers tall and top with breadcrumbs.

Increase the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the eggplant stacks back into the oven and cook 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the bread crumbs are toasted.

Adapted from Mario Batali's Eggplant Parm Stacks.