Egg Plant Dellisio
Hi Ree,
This one is for you. It took me literally FOREVER to figure out a dish that I think can flip your skirt up! So I decided to make something that I am 93% sure (I love numbers) you will like. I am saving the 7% for the other 1000 recipes you are receiving for your contest. Dangit!
To be honest, this dish really reminds me of your posting about your trip to Austin. I, too, was there years ago, since I went to school somewhere close to that city (about 2 or 3 hours away.. hint hint..).
And I LOVE Egg plant. Don’t you? I know you do.. You LOOOOVEE egg plant, come on, say it, say it!! And I know Marlboro Man doesn’t really like fancy dishes as such (is it really fancy, btw? I don’t know what I am talking about). But, if he likes lasagna, he may like this one.
The taste of the eggplant is there, definitely, but blends with my lovely white sauce, which, for your information, was created while I was looking for tips to make cake moist… (there is a mayonnaisse part involved here that makes the dish taste yummy tummy..)
Ok, shall we?
Here goes.
Ingredients:
Egg Plant Mixture
1 egg plant
1/2 to 1 yellow onions or 3 cloves of shallots, minced
1 1/2 tsp of sage
1 tsp of nutmeg or less
1 cup of parsley
1 japapeno pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 apple (thinly sliced)—> optional
2 tbsp light brown sugar
Salt to taste
White Sauce Mixture
1 cup of dried or fresh chives
4 tablespoon of REAL mayonnaisse (non of those fake stuff)
1 cup monterey jack cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese
(The cheeses can be substituted by your choice.. mozzarella and cheddar, mozzarella and mont. jack, asiago and havarti.. etc)
1 cup of milk
3 medium eggs
salt and pepper to taste.
You will also need the following to make this dish:
2 cups of bread crumb or cracker crumbs
2 lovely frying pans of your choice
1 rectangular (I love math) casserole dish of your heart’s desire..
Lots of love for your family..!
To make the egg plant mixture..
Slice one big purple egg plant (not the chinese ones) into thin pieces
Mince garlic, parsley, jalapeno peppers, and yellow onion (I sliced this thinly).
Slice the apple thinly as well.
Eat one slice of apple to lift your spirit up during this process (the apple may taste oniony..can you tell, I was making this at 4 am…!).
Saute them together in 5 – 6 tablespoons of olive oil in one of the frying pans on medium high heat until the onions kind of caramelize..and the smell of garlic fills up the room..
In the mean time, also cook the egg plant in the other pan. Saute the slices with at least 10 tbsp of olive oil or butter until soft and tender.. like this.. Add salt and pepper and sprinkle with Lea and Perrin sauce..
When they are done, put them aside… and now make the lovely white sauce..! Ehhhhmm.. yummy!
To make tha! sauce:
Combine chives, milk, eggs, cheese, and mayonnaisse in a bowl or tupperware like this..
and mix or whisk together until well blended…
Observe for a moment.. are there bubbles? Yes? Good.. it looks better when there are bubbles.. 
.
Don’t forget to add about 5 gulp of the lea & perrin sauce to this mixture..
That’s it for the sauce!
Now, get ready to get your good old spagetti sauce or tomato sauce or tomato paste..
If you use tomato sauce like Ragu’s, you will need about 1 cup of it. If you use tomato paste, you’ll need to heat it up a bit with hot water so that combined it would be about 1 cup.
OK then. Get ready to assemble your mixtures!!
Align the eggplants peacefully like soo…
Put crumbs on top of the eggplant, tomato sauce, and white sauce in sequence.
Repeat this layering until the rest of your ingredients are gone and cover with a final layer of white sauce.
Put into over that has been pre-heated to 300 F or 180 C.
Take out of the oven about 40 minutes into the baking.
And enjoy!
Ree, I hope you will at least try to make this, and I hope you’ll like it!
Ana
