Easy as ABC Monday: I is for Italian Bread
I don’t eat a lot of white bread. Almost all of the bread I bake or buy is either whole wheat, multi-grain, pumpernickel or rye. One of the notable exceptions to this rule is Italian Bread. There’s something about an authentic loaf of Italian bread with it’s hard crust and soft, spongy middle that makes me want to eat the whole thing, slice by slice with a thick layer of butter.
Yes, I know I just wrote about lasagna, but this dish is different. Instead of noodles, Italian (or country bread) soaks up the sauce and causes crisp, sauteed eggplant to lose all traces of bitterness. Even people who claim not to like eggplant like this dish. It’s perfect.
Eggplant and Country Bread Lasagna
(recipe adapted from Lidia’s Italy- the recipe wasn’t on the site the first time I tried it so I improvised)
Ingredients:
* Loaf of Italian Bread, sliced
* Eggplant (I used one large, but you could use a few small, Italian eggplants)
* 2 cups of flour
* 6 cups Marinara sauce or 2 bottles tomato sauce of your choice
* 2 cups freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
* Fresh Basil ( five or six leaves)
* 2 tbsp Butter
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying
Directions: Trim the stems and ends from the eggplant(s). Remove strips of peel about 1-inch wide from the eggplant(s), leaving about half the peel intact. Cut the eggplant into 1/2-inch thick slices and place them in a colander. Sprinkle with the coarse salt and let drain for 1 hour. Rinse the eggplant under cool running water, drain throroughly and pat dry.*
Dredge the eggplant rounds in flour shaking off the excess. Heat vegetable oil (the oil should be deep enough to cover about half of the eggplant) in a large pan. Fill the pan with as many slices fit without touching and fry until golden brown, turning once. Remove the eggplant to a baking pan lined with paper towels.
Preheat the oven to 375. Butter the bottom and sides of a ceramic baking pan or lasagna dish. Cover the bottom with a layer of sauce then top with a single layer of the sliced Italian bread, overlapping if necessary. Pour about half of the marinara sauce over the bread, spreading it evenly. Top with a layer of fried eggplant, pressing down gently. Tear a few leaves of basil over the eggplant. Sprinkle a layer of grated cheese on top. Continue layering bread, sauce, eggplant and cheese, ending with shredded parmesan. (My lasagna layered as follows: bread, sauce, eggplant, cheese, bread, sauce cheese) Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until cheese is golden and bubbly, about 15 minutes more. Let rest for 15 minutes then cut into squares and serve.
*you can skip this step if you’re pressed for time.
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January 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
[…] may have noticed italicized sections at the end of my posts where I add extra info I find, like a link to a recipe for Italian bread lasagna or get political and link to a post about gay rights. This will continue; it’s just a way for […]