Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 6
- 1 medium-sized eggplant
- 2-3 cups bread crumbs, unseasoned
- 6 large eggs
- flour for dusting
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Frying oil
Wash the eggplant and remove the green stem end. Cut the eggplant crosswise into quarter-inch to half-inch slices. (Do not peel.) Place slices in a large colander and salt them generously. Cover with a plate or lid that is smaller than the top of the colander, and set a weight on the lid. Place the colander in the sink to drain for a half hour to an hour.
Arrange three wide, shallow containers in a row on a work surface. Fill the first with a layer of flour, the second with four of the eggs (beaten) and the third with breadcrumbs, seasoned with pepper and other spices to taste.
Rinse the salt off of the eggplant slices and dry them thoroughly with paper towels. Bread the eggplant by dredging the slices in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs.
Fill one or more deep frying pans with an inch to an inch and a half of oil, and heat on the stove over medium-high heat until a pinch of flour/egg/breadcrumb mixture bubbles and begins to cook immediately upon being dropped in. Fry the slices in batches until golden brown and drain between thick layers of paper towels.
Best eaten warm, or in eggplant parmesan.
Sean
