I’m sad to say we lost Jim’s 90-year-old mother and my mother-in-law, Mary Polak, a couple of weeks ago. She was a dear lady and I’m lucky to have had her in my life for 10 years. She treated me as one of her own sons. I loved her dearly and I’m posting this dish in memory of her. This photo was taken at Christmas of 2011.
Jim always raved about his Mama’s Eggplant Parmesan but I wasn’t very excited about it until I tried it for the first time. Eggplant is not one of my favorite vegetables, but her Eggplant Parmesan was outrageously good. Mary always made it for me whenever we visited and I always overindulged when it was served! She was 100% Italian and I guess it was in her blood to make great food. I’m honoring her by sharing this recipe and – minus a few tweaks – this is how she made it.
I have to say right off the bat that it’s a little hard to be completely specific on ingredients for this dish. She didn’t cook that way and before she passed away I asked her to give me some directions for making her tomato sauce. Even the instructions she wrote for me were not specific! She would make a pot of sauce and use what she needed for the eggplant and save the rest for another dish. I watched her make this dish several times, so I’ve relied on memory to a large degree. With that said, I’ll give you some of the specifics and you can taste your way through the rest of the process.
Mary’s sauce always had a richness that I couldn’t duplicate. I learned from her that cooking the sauce with pork enhanced the sauce in a wonderful way. She would buy inexpensive cuts of pork or sausage and simmer her sauce with the meat for a couple of hours. She would use country style ribs, chunks of pork butt, or sweet Italian sausage. The resulting sauce was simple, rich, and delicious.
I have stayed true to her recipe with a few exceptions. I put the dish together as roulades. She built the dish as stacks of eggplant, cheese, and sauce. The only other changes I made were using some fresh mozzarella and panko breadcrumbs. She used regular Italian flavored bread crumbs.
To make roulades, I sliced the eggplant lengthwise. I used my handy dandy mandolin to make the 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices. Slicing with a knife would make for uneven slices, so I would highly recommend this method.
Eggplant has a very high water content. Mary taught me how to minimize the moisture by placing the slices of eggplant of a baking sheet and sprinkling with salt. The salt draws out the moisture and after a few minutes the surface of the slices become wet. You can then use paper towel to absorb the excess moisture. This step is necessary to avoid a watery finished product.
I want to warn you that another property of eggplant is that is it very absorbent. The eggplant slices are breaded and fried, so you see where I’m going… I wouldn’t classify this dish as low cal! Nonetheless, I think you’ll enjoy the finished product.
Ingredients
2 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
2 6 ounce cans tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
2 pork country ribs, 2 chunks of pork butt, or 2 links of sweet Italian sausage
2 eggplants, peeled and sliced lengthwise into 1/8-1/4 inches slices
4 cups Italian panko bread crumbs
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 eggs, beaten
Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 large balls of fresh mozzarella, sliced
3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped roughly
Instructions
1. Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pan and simmer for 2 hours.
2. After 1 1/2 hours, remove the meat from the sauce.
3. Add salt and pepper as needed.
1. Mix the breadcrumbs with salt and pepper and place in a shallow dish.
2. Pour egg into another shallow dish.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
4. Cover the bottom of the skillet with oil.
5. When the oil is hot, dip the eggplant in egg then into the bread crumbs and place in the skillet.
6. Cook about 1 minute or until lightly browned.
7. Turn and brown on the other side.
8. Remove and place on paper towel.
9. Repeat until all eggplant is cooked.
10. Between batches, remove any burned bread crumbs and add additional oil.
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place a slice of fresh mozzarella on one end of the eggplant.
3. Add a pinch of basil and a small mound of grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses making sure the cheese is all on one end of the slice.
4. Start rolling from the cheese end and make sure the end of the roll is on the bottom.
5. Place the roulade in a baking dish and repeat until all the slices are rolled.
6. Ladle sauce down the middle of the rows of roulades. Don't smother the rolls with sauce because you will serve the roulades on a pool of sauce. Leaving some of the breading on the eggplant exposed preserves a crunchy texture.
7. Add grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over the sauce.
8. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.
9. To serve, ladle a pool of warm sauce on the plate. Place two roulades on top of the sauce. Garnish with a fresh basil leaf.
https://southernboydishes.com/2012/09/07/eggplant-parmesan-roulades/
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Really enjoyed reading your blog about Mary’s eggplant recipe! I’m very excited to try it!
I shouldn’t have read this an hour before lunch. I’M NOW STARVING!!! This sounds amazing — and what a lovely way to honor Jim’s mother and keep her spirit alive.