Eggplant Parmigiana (Brazilian Style)

On Friday I opened my fridge and found these lovelies and knew I had to make some eggplant parmigiana. Ever since Maria was born I've been feeling lazy (mostly sleep deprived) and haven't had to cook at all since we received so many meals (over 30, actually).  Christian's aunt and uncle came for the week and left our fridge full of fresh veggies and other treats.

On Saturday Enzo helped me in the kitchen. We cooked together and listened to Car Talk. He's only 3 so he doesn't really get all the jokes but he laughs when I laugh, so basically he's the perfect company.

This is a variation of a Brazilian recipe found in the Dona Benta cookbook (Brazilian equivalent of The Joy of Cooking)

Eggplant Parmigiana

• 10 small eggplants
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• oil
• tomato sauce
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• Italian seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 350*
   
2. Rinse the eggplants and cut them 1/4 inch
3. On a plate mix the flour and garlic salt
4. Cover the cut eggplants  with the flour mixture and deep fry them in 3 separate batches. 
5. Layer the bottom of a casserole pan with tomato sauce and place one layer of the fried eggplants over the tomatoe sauce.
6. Cut the tomatoes into thin slices and layer over the eggplant. Add another layer of tomato sauce and eggplants and top with cheese.
7. Sprinkle Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.
8. Bake for 30 minutes
   

Enjoy!