AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 • COOK’S COUNTRY 13Eggplant Pecorino
An updated take on eggplant Parmesan puts
the focus back where it belongs. by Bryan Roof
READ THE WORDS “eggplant
Parmesan” on almost any restaurant
menu and you know what you’re in for:
a mountain of mozzarella, a loaf’s worth
of bread crumbs, a swimming pool of
sweet red sauce, and, buried deep be-
neath it all, a fat slab of mushy eggplant.
It’s usually a heavy dish that requires a
nap afterward.
But at La Campagna, a small strip
mall restaurant in Westlake, Ohio (see
“If You Want to Find Me, You’ll Find
Me”), I was served a version of eggplant
Parm that turned the concept on its
head. A lighter hand produced a dish
that actually showcased the eggplant in
all the right ways: savory, faintly bitter,
buttery, and satisfying. The cheese and
sauce added just enough context to
amplify the eggplant but not obscure it.
At La Campagna they slice the
eggplant superthin, which nixes the pos-
sibility of a big bite of mush. Following
this approach, I chose eggplants of a
certain size—1 pound or smaller—and
carefully cut them lengthwise into
¼-inch-thick slices.
I also decided early on to skip the
bread crumbs and instead focus on fry-
ing the eggplant in a thin flour and egg
coating. It’s a simple process (dredge
each slice in flour, dip it in beaten egg,
and then shallow-fry in a skillet), but it
takes a bit of patience because you have
to do it in batches. It’s worth the effort:
The process creates a light, fluffy shell
around each eggplant slice rather than
a thick, bready coating—a much more
refined result.
At the restaurant, the dish is served
as an individual stack of about five slices
of eggplant layered with cheese and
sauce. This is easy to do in a restaurant,
where you can build the stacks to order
with prefried eggplant and sauce kept
warm on the back of the stove and then
throw each serving into the oven to
finish. But I wanted a one-and-done
solution to serve six people. So I built
four stacks of eggplant in a 13 by 9-inch
baking dish, with sauce and cheese in
between the layers.
About that sauce: Since this dish
already requires a fair amount of work,
I wanted a quick sauce that remained
bright, with underpinnings of deep
flavor. I softened onion, garlic, ancho-
vies, red pepper flakes, and oregano in
a couple of tablespoons of butter just
long enough to extract their flavors,
about 3 minutes, and then added
a combination of canned crushed
tomatoes and diced tomatoes with
their juice. A quick 10-minute simmer
concentrated the sauce beautifully. I
finished it with a fistful of chopped
basil for a fresh note and a tablespoon
of extra-virgin olive oil for some
Italian-style richness.
And about that cheese: I love
Parmesan (who doesn’t?), but at La
Campagna they use Pecorino Romano
instead. Great idea: Pecorino’s nutty,
tangy flavor pairs so beautifully with
the soft, mild eggplant that I chose to
follow suit. A final flourish of creamy,
tangy shredded fontina cheese, melted
and browned under the broiler, made
my eggplant Parmesan—I mean, egg-
plant Pecorino—extra-special.EGGPLANT PECORINO
Serves 6
Do not use eggplants weighing more
than 1 pound each or the slices won’t
fit in the baking dish. Use a rasp-style
grater to grate the Pecorino Romano;
shred the fontina on the large holes of
a box grater. Depending on the size of
your eggplants, you may not need to
use all three to get the 20 slices needed
to assemble the casserole.SAUCE
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 anchovy fillets, rinsed and minced
¾ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oilEGGPLANT
3 (10- to 16-ounce) eggplants
½ cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, for frying
4 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese,
grated (2 cups)
4 ounces fontina cheese, shredded
(1 cup)- FOR THE SAUCE: Melt butter in
medium saucepan over medium-low
heat. Add onion, garlic, anchovies,
salt, pepper flakes, and oregano and
cook until onion is softened, about
3 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes,
diced tomatoes and their juice, and
sugar; increase heat to medium-high;
and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to
medium-low and simmer until slightly
thickened, about 10 minutes. Off
heat, stir in basil and oil. Season with
salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
(Sauce can be refrigerated for up to
48 hours.)- FOR THE EGGPLANT: Cut stem
end off eggplants and discard. Cut
¼-inch-thick slice from 1 long side
of each eggplant and discard. Using
mandoline or slicing knife and starting
on cut side, slice eggplants lengthwise
¼ inch thick until you have 20 slices to-
tal (you may not need all 3 eggplants). - Place flour in shallow dish. Beat
eggs in second shallow dish. Line
baking sheet with triple layer of paper
towels. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over
medium heat to 350 degrees (to take
temperature, tilt skillet so oil pools on
1 side). Working with 3 or 4 slices at a
time (depending on size of eggplant),
dredge eggplant in flour, shaking off
excess; dip in egg, allowing excess
to drip off; then place in hot oil. Fry
until lightly browned on both sides,
about 1½ minutes per side. Transfer
to prepared sheet. (As eggplant slices
cool, you can stack them to make
room on sheet.)- Adjust oven rack 6 inches from
broiler element and heat oven to
375 degrees. Spread 1 cup sauce in
bottom of broiler-safe 13 by 9-inch
baking dish. Starting with largest
slices of eggplant, place 4 eggplant
slices side by side over sauce in dish.
Spread ½ cup sauce over eggplant,
then sprinkle ½ cup Pecorino over
top. Repeat layering 3 times to make
4 stacks of 4 slices. Place remaining
eggplant slices on top. Spread remain-
ing sauce over top layer of eggplant,
then sprinkle with fontina. - Bake until bubbling around edges
and center of casserole is hot, about
30 minutes. Broil until fontina is
lightly browned, 1 to 3 minutes. Let
cool for 20 minutes. Serve.
TO MAKE AHEAD
Casserole can be assembled through
step 4, without fontina, and refriger-
ated for up to 24 hours. When ready
to serve, cover with aluminum foil
and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil,
sprinkle with fontina, and continue to
bake as directed in step 5.We layer slices of
breaded-and-fried
eggplant with sauce
and cheese to create
delicious stacks.