Eggplant Parmesan

So a great thing to have in the summer is Eggplant - especially if you're growing it in the garden and even if you're not it's readily available at all the farmers' markets. It's unfortunate that the name of this gorgeous veggie is EGGPLANT because I know it turns a lot of people off - namely my very own sons and nieces and nephews!! I didn't even like it when I was younger!

I took 3 eggplant....peeled and sliced them in 1/4 in discs.....salted them and put them in the colander to drain the bitterness out for around a 1/2 hour.......rinsed and patted them dry - here is where I DON'T bread and fry - I skip the egg and batter step and just saute in olive oil till they are brown......eggplant tends to soak up A LOT of oil so resist pouring it on....put on paper towels - get a big baking dish and pour some red sauce on the bottom (if I was at home I would make my own sauce but I'm at the shore so I PURCHASED Roselli's and it was tasty - 26oz jar) also, I youtubed this process and an old Italian lady uses Tuttoroso's green can - this is great because it's cheap and very tasty! Then layer the eggplant slices - next put slices of fresh mozzarella and some shredded parmesan - then some more sauce and some more slices and continue till all gone topping with the sauce and some parmesan - Bake 400 35 minutes covered with tin foil - it can sit for a while or serve right away - freezes well too!

A funny thing to do is YOUTUBE how to make eggplant parm - you get a variety of options and some pretty funny videos of random people in the kitchen...a riot!

We had this last night with grilled chicken (for your protein) and some jersey corn and garlic bread - We were graced with my son, Mike's presence and he skipped the egglpant as did the other kids - he hasn't been around much this summer so we were just glad to hear him tell some stories!

We also had some CRABS!!!! There are always crabs to be had around here - beautiful tasty blue crab claws!! Not good for the manicure......