Easy Eggplant Parmesan | Baked Eggplant Parmesan Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Do you leave the skin on eggplant for eggplant parmesan? ›

The vegetable's skin is completely edible and tends to soften as it cooks, so in many recipes it's fine to leave the skin on. That said, I recommend peeling the eggplant for eggplant parmesan. As an eggplant grows larger, the skin can become tough and bitter — something that I prefer to avoid.

Not necessarily; it depends on what you're looking for in the finished dish. Though salting works when you want the eggplant to be creamy and tender — such as with parmigiana — in those cases where you want the eggplant to retain its shape and have a slightly firmer texture — such as ratatouille — you can skip it.

Slice your eggplant with the skin on (this will help it keep its shape). Brush it lightly with oil. Grill over a hot flame until the flesh is tender and you have beautiful char marks, about 5 minutes per side.

I tend to soak the slices in a bowl of water with a couple of tablespoon of salt for about 30-45 minutes. It doesn't have to do with bitterness, but I find that in doing this, the fried eggplant turns out less greasy," Jenkins says.

Carefully rinse each piece of eggplant under cold water, making sure you remove all the salt.

Soak eggplant slices or cubes in milk for about 30 minutes before cooking. The milk not only tempers the bitterness, but it actually makes for eggplant that is extra creamy, since the vegetable acts like a sponge and soaks up a good amount of milk in its flesh.

Salting: Salting removes excess liquid and some of the bitterness. Today's eggplants are bred for mildness, though, so it's not as important as it used to be (if you are frying eggplant, salting will ensure a creamy texture and rich flavor). This method works for eggplant slices, cubes, or planks.

Italian Eggplant

At first glance, Italian eggplants look just like globe eggplant but slightly smaller—this ultimately means the flesh is more tender when cooked. Try them in eggplant Parmesan, saucy eggplant adobo, or grill the halves and serve with a spicy tomato sauce and peanuts.

You want to do the most to protect your eggplant. Salting it to remove moisture before it starts cooking is very important (and letting it squeeze out excess moisture beneath the weight of a heavy pot for an hour is crucial, too). Then cut it lengthwise instead of across into medallions.

Eggplant Parmesan can be time consuming, but most of the work can be done ahead of time. Remove the excess moisture, bread them, then lightly fry. Store them in the refrigerator for 1-2 days prior to assembling and baking.

Why do you soak eggplant in vinegar? ›

Why do you soak eggplant in water and vinegar? Soaking eggplant in water and vinegar helps remove some of the vegetable's natural bitterness. This step also helps preserve some of the skin's color so it stays a vibrant purple even after cooking.

Cut the eggplant lengthwise instead of crosswise. This reduces the amount of oil that the eggplant absorbs during frying. 2. Salt the eggplant slices and let them rest for about an hour.

While the skin of a small young eggplant is edible, the skin becomes bitter on larger or older eggplants and should be peeled. When in doubt, the answer to, "Do you peel eggplant before cooking?" is yes, peel it. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the skin.

Eggplants are rarely peeled completely before cooking, but Sicilian cooks like to peel alternating large strips of skin to make them more "digestible". (Digestibility is very important to Sicilians.)

To peel or not to peel? To get right down to it, no, it is not necessary to peel an eggplant. There are times when keeping the skin of the eggplant on can create a tough texture or bitter taste, which is why some people peel it off for ease.