My Nonna’s Eggplant Parmigiana is one of my favorite and easiest ways to make this dish. There is a secret ingredient that I bet you would never guess but it makes such a difference. A hard boiled egg. My nonna’s family was Calabrese and they seemed to put a lot of hard boiled eggs in their dishes. Lme explain what the egg does. The yolk of the egg seems to make the sauce even creamier and it lends a hidden flavor that is just spectacular. Trust me when I say that it is cut so tiny you wouldn’t even know it was there, but the addition makes this dish over the top delicious.
Nonna’s Eggplant Parmigiana
4 Medium Eggplants – Sliced thinly about ⅛ inch – Skin on
Oil for Frying – I use olive oil
4 oz. of Mozzarella – Cut into tiny cubes
3 Cups of Tomato Sauce – See my recipe for marinara on the website
⅔ Cup of Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
4 Hard Boiled Eggs- Diced into very tiny pieces
Black Pepper
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and begin to fry the eggplant slices. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side until they begin to brown and are cooked through. Take the eggplant out of the oil and put on pieces of paper towel to drain out any excess oil. Continue to fry until all the eggplant is cooked. Then drain the eggplant a second time on new paper two and set aside.
In an oven safe pan (I use a 9 x 13 Pyrex) begin to layer the eggplant. First, coat the bottom with sauce. Then lay the eggplant in a single layer on top of the sauce. Put more sauce on top of the eggplant layer, sprinkle with grated Pecorino, black pepper, and the hard boiled egg. Repeat the process until you use up all the eggplant. Top with some more sauce, Pecorino and black pepper. Evenly spread the cubes of mozzarella all over the top of the parmigiana. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes. It will start to bubble. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the mozzarella is golden brown.