you’re wrong. The simplicity of this dish is, in my opinion, what makes it so great. The eggplant is shallow fried, which brings out the luscious texture that well-cooked eggplant can have. This recipe is sans bread crumbs, which makes it less involved than some other recipes (and gluten free if you’re into that sort of thing). Once fried, the eggplant is stacked (as the name precludes) with layers of mozzarella, placed under the broiler and left to get super melty. Finish with my Simplest Sauce Ever, which is the perfect red-sauce compliment to this rich dish. Serve it all with some perfectly cooked al dente pasta and you’re good to go.

Seared Eggplant Parmesan Stacks (GF)

SERVES 2

1 med eggplant, ¾ lb, cut into rounds ¼ in thick (approx 12 rounds, 6 per serving)
½ cup neutral oil
4oz salted mozzarella, also cut into ¼ in thick rounds (ideally not the fresh kind that comes in water and not the low moisture block, but this kind)
Coarse kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup Simplest Sauce Ever, more if you’re serving with pasta
Freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
OPTIONAL: Fresh basil

Start making your Simplest Sauce Ever if you haven’t prepared it already. Once that’s on the stove and simmering, rinse your eggplant and cut into rounds, skin on. Lay the rounds out into a single layer on a paper towel or kitchen towel. Sprinkle one side with salt to pull out some of the bitterness and excess moisture. After 10-15 minutes, press down on the eggplant with a clean towel to thoroughly remove all the excess moisture.

To shallow fry the eggplant, start by heating ¼ cup of neutral oil in a cast iron or stainless pan over med/high heat. When you see the oil shimmering, make sure your eggplant is thoroughly dry before adding 1 piece to the oil: if the oil bubbles up around it, the oil is hot enough. If it doesn’t bubble at all, remove the eggplant and let the oil get hotter. If the oil is spitting at you, lower the heat a bit. When the oil is ready, fry the eggplant in batches, 2-3 pieces at a time making sure not to overcrowd the pan, until crispy and golden on both sides. Too much eggplant in the pan at once will cause the temperature of your oil to drop, and lead to soggy, oily eggplant, rather than crispy.

As you remove the fried pieces of eggplant from the pan, lay them on a paper towel to drain excess oil and sprinkle immediately with a little coarse salt while hot. If you are making pasta, start boiling some water and salt it generously.

Cut your rounds of salted mozzarella and set aside.

Turn your oven on to low broil.

When all the eggplant is fried, in a baking dish with sides, stack 5-6 pieces of eggplant, largest pieces towards the bottom, alternating with pieces of mozzarella in between. For the smaller pieces of eggplant, using a whole round of mozzarella will be too heavy, so rip the mozzarella into smaller pieces and add just enough to cover the eggplant, letting the cheese stick out a bit at the sides of each layer to achieve that melt-down-the-sides greatness. Once you’ve used all your eggplant, cover the baking dish with a piece of foil, making sure to tent it up a bit so it doesn’t stick to the top layer of cheese, and put in the oven for 10 minutes.

At this point, add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente. Start to warm your simple sauce on the stove top over a medium/low heat.

After 10 minutes, the mozzarella should have started to visible melt. At that point, remove the tin foil, turn the oven on to high broil, and put back for another 3-5 minutes, or until the top layer of mozzarella is golden brown and other layers of mozzarella are super melty.

Carefully remove from oven and transfer to a plate. Top with a few spoonfuls of your simple sauce and finish with a grind of black pepper, freshly grated parmigiano reggiano and fresh basil, if you have!