SUCCESS!!! Melanzane alla Parmigiana

In the end not satisfied with the previous effort, I made melanzane alla parmigiana again today.  It was so close, but not quite right, and, truthfully, this near-miss has bothered me since my first attempt last weekend.  It tasted fantastic at the time, but I knew the best was yet to be.  Perhaps it's all the Olympic coverage and the inspirational stories told by the hardship and challenges faced by athletes... I just felt that I could make the dish better.  I needed to conquer it, go for the gold, as they say.  And although the flavor profile was great in the first attempt, the texture was lacking and the shape didn't hold up.  As they say in figure skating, it came down to the GOE -- Grade Of Execution (which is what it came down to in Men's Figure Skating -- Lysacek's GOE was superior to that of Plushenko in the Free Skate).   All week I thought: If I sliced the eggplants thinner, prepared more baked eggplants to lay out; if I shimmered the tomato sauce more, and used less mozzarella, as dictated by the recipe (last time I was worried it would be lacking)... I thought I could come up with melanzane alla parmigiana of my dreams.

Obviously, I am obsessed with melanzane alla parmigiana.  I have been haunted by it ever since we went to Rome.  This is already 4 years ago.

So today I followed the Food52 recipe rigidly -- I sliced the eggplant very much at 1/4 inch width.  Well, okay, okay, I did make a few alterations: more garlic in the tomato sauce, basil in between each layer, and a light sprinkle of panko on the top crust for crunch.  Otherwise, I committed to the recipe as dictated on Food52 website.  And I am ecstatic to report it was SMASHING.

It was like... eggplant lasagne.  SO DELICIOUS.  Light, fluffy, flavorful, with just a delicate center of mozzarella.  And it kept shape!!!  The great thing about this recipe is that the dish is not oily or greasy, which can often be a problem with melanzane alla parmigiana, as the eggplant slices are pan fried before being baked.  Not so with this recipe.

Hooray!!!