Today’s sandwich is the “eggplant parmesan” grilled cheese. It combines breaded, fried eggplant slices, tangy tomato sauce, three kinds of cheese on crusty Italian bread.
Notes: It all started with a soda. An old friend gave me a liter of Foxon Park white birch, sweetened with real sugar and lightly effervescent. This small batch soft drink, which has been produced in East Haven, Connecticut for the last eighty years, is the ideal beverage pairing for pizza, pasta, anything red sauce based and melty, and it got me thinking. I began building a crazy decadent sandwich in my mind. Hearty, salty, hot and fried. A sandwich for the last days of winter.
“Eggplant Parmesan” Grilled Cheese
Makes 2 sandwiches
Ingredients:
- 1 medium-sized eggplant, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices
- Kosher salt
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten in a shallow bowl
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup all purpose-flour, combined with breadcrumbs in a second shallow bowl
- Olive oil
- Your favorite tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 1/4 cup freshly grated extra-sharp provolone
- 1 fist-sized ball of fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
- Basil leaves
- Crusty bread
- Butter
Method:
Layer and salt eggplant slices in a colander in the sink; use heavy plates to press the eggplant to drain, about two hours. Rinse off salt and pat the slices dry. Heat 1/4 inch of olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat, and begin coating the eggplant, first in egg, then in the flour/breadcrumb mixture. When the oil is hot, fry eggplant until golden brown, about three minutes a side; drain on brown paper bag or paper towels.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a glass baking dish, spread half the tomato sauce, layer half the eggplant, half the grated cheeses, and repeat – sauce, eggplant – remainder of the grated cheese, and half the mozzarella slices. Bake for 20-25 minutes; remove from oven and allow the dish to rest for 5 minutes.
Build a sandwich with eggplant, mozzarella, and basil leaves; melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Grill until the bread is golden brown and cheese is melted, about five minutes a side.
Looks delicious! Being from East Haven, I cannot eat a slice of pizza without wishing they sold Foxon Park in all of New England! 🙂
this looks perfect. i want one!!
Nom Nom!Would love to eat this for brecky, instead of the porridge I have next to me;)
hehee, I love the contrast between you two… it’s like you’re doing a yummy beautiful episode of “Giada at Home” while he’s doing a car-crash-can’t-look-away-style episode of “Man vs Food (?)”
^________^
Hahahaha! Sometimes it just works out that way.
This looks so delicious! Love all the flavors of eggplant parm in a sandwich…yum!!
Thanks, Sara…this sandwich was truly over-the-top!
ooo, perfect vegetarian hangover food!
Looks so good, but do you deliver?
Eggplant parm is probably one of my favorite dishes out there. Who wouldn’t like it in sandwich-form?!
Hi, I love the idea of this sandwich and I made it. But don’t you think that for the taste is not enough of garlic? And I believe that next time I will cut more thinly slices of eggplant. Today I will put this on my blog 🙂
Thank you&have a tasty day!
This looks/sounds like it would taste great! :9
It was sooo delicious! We made some minor changes though 🙂