2 Eggplant, about 2 1/2 pounds total 2 Cups Marinara Sauce, jarred or homemade 3 Ounces Parmesan Cheese, good quality 1 tsp. Salt
One 2 quart baking dish.
One 3 quart baking dish.
2 perfectly ripe, firm, heavy, purple eggplant.
Slice a bit off of the stem and tip of the eggplant.
Peel the eggplant as seen in photo.
Slice the eggplant into thin circles.
Each slice should be no thicker that 1/4 inch.
Peel and cut one eggplant at a time.
Place some of the eggplant slices, in one even layer, into the 3 quart dish.
You can slightly overlap the pieces.
Sprinkle each slice evenly with a just a dusting of salt.
Repeat the above step three more times.
You should have 4 layers of eggplant, each layer lightly dusted with salt.
You will have peeled and cut the second eggplant at some point during this process.
Make sure that the 3 quart dish is filled to the top with eggplant.
At this point you can place the 2 quart dish, bottom side down, on top of the eggplant.
Place a sheet pan on top of the 2 quart dish.
Carefully flip the baking dishes over so the they are now upside down.
This is now going allow the salt and the weight of the 3 quart baking dish to press the water out of the eggplant.
Leave the eggplant to drain like this for a half hour.
At the half hour mark start heating your oven to 350°
While eggplant is draining you can grate your cheese.
You can also get your marinara sauce ready.
After about 40 minutes you can dry off the eggplant.
Simply place eggplant on top of a towel and place another towel on top of the eggplant.
Press down firmly to extract liquid from eggplant.
Take the 2 quart dish and wipe out any moisture.
Spread a couple tablespoons of marinara sauce over the bottom of the dish.
Place dried-off eggplant into the dish in one even layer.
Lightly spread a couple of tablespoons of marinara sauce over the eggplant.
Lightly sprinkle a couple tablespoons of cheese over the sauce.
You do not want to put too much sauce or cheese on the eggplant.
Place a second layer of eggplant into the dish.
Push down on the eggplant and firmly press it into the bottom layer.
Cover lightly with sauce and cheese.
Repeat this step a total of four times to fill up the baking dish with four layers of eggplant, sauce and cheese but do not put cheese on the top layer.
Cover baking dish with foil.
Place into hot oven and bake for one hour.
After one hour remove eggplant from oven.
Remove foil and sprinkle with final layer of cheese.
Place eggplant back in the oven, uncovered, and bake for 10 more minutes.
Remove eggplant from the oven.
Gently but firmly press down on the cooked eggplant with a spatula.
This will extract any excess liquid from the eggplant.
Holding the dish in one hand, carefully tilt the dish over the sink to drain out any liquid.
Be careful not to pour the eggplant into the sink.
