Melanzane melt

Melanzane Parmigiana has been on my mind for a while now. Eggplants baked with tons of cheese and tomatoes, it’s a thing of beauty, but in a much more real sense also a thing that I haven’t managed to snap a decent picture of. It’s messy, it’s always a little too watery because it takes such a long time to bake and tests my patience in ways I’m just not prepared for. So this week I thought I’d try a different angle, Melanzane Parmigiana - but make it fashun. A sandwichized, crispified, twist that I think will be right up them alleys. Best thing? It has nothing to do with pumpkin, turkey, cranberries, or any other thanksgiving adjacent ingredients crowding our feeds atm.

Ingredients #

For 2:

• 2 pieces of focaccia
• 1 small eggplant
• Parmesan cheese
• Flour
• Panko
• 1 Egg
• 200g cherry tomatoes
• 250g buffalo mozzarella
• Olive oil
• Frying oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Method #

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. In a small oven safe skillet/pan add the tomatoes and cover them about half-way up in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and confit in the oven until jammy, about 30 minutes.

2. In the meantime, thinly slice the eggplant in discs. Distribute them on a cutting board and season with salt, wait about 15 minutes, dab the drawn out water off with a kitchen towel, flip the discs and do the same thing with the other side.

3. Prep 3 bowls, one with a beaten egg, one with a few heaping tablespoons of flour, and one with equal amounts grated parmesan and panko, enough to bread the eggplant discs with, so about a few heaping tablespoons of each. You can always make a little extra if you're running short. Season both the flour and panko mix with some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4. Once your tomatoes look nicely charred and jammy, take them out of the oven, they’ll stay warm in the oil.

5. Firmly press the eggplant discs with kitchen paper to remove as much water from them as possible. Then toss them in the flour, shaking off excess, then drench through the egg, then bread with panko/parm, leaving them perfectly coated. Repeat with all discs.

6. Heat up a skillet with a layer of frying oil, and fry the eggplant until golden brown and crisp, a few minutes on each side.

7. Cut open the focaccia, slice the mozzarella, and build your melt! I did: bread, mozz, tommies, eggplant, bread, but I trust you to make your own layering decisions here.

An absolute mess to eat, which is really just a sign that its a good sandwich right?