Eggplant Parm and HOLY FUCK MARINARA!

On Sunday I went to Matt's after work and we embarked on an epic journey of Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich creation. Even though the Eggplant Parm was Matt's brainchild, I selfishly took over the cooking, as I am wont to do. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken of this process, as I was fairly distracted (and by distracted I mean hungry) at the time.

At the store, we picked up (and by we I mean Matt, as he paid for everything but basil and limes for gin and tonics) focaccia, heirloom tomatoes, eggplants, whole milk mozzarella, basil and breadcrumbs. My meager contribution to this endeavor was several incarnations of canned tomato products, eggs for breading, and a red onion.

- AFK shoveling pasta into my face -

The preparation for the sandwiches was simple, but time consuming. First I made some marinara sauce, by sweating a chopped half of a large onion and four minced cloves of garlic in a liberal amount of olive oil, adding a massive can of imported whole canned tomatoes (which I crushed with a spoon) and stirring in a wee can of tomato paste until the mixture was homogeneous. When the sandwiches were closer to completion, I tore a handful of basil leaves and introduced them into the roiling brew. A fairly utilitarian marinara, but it suited our purposes well.

While I was doing this, Matt sliced the focaccia and the eggplant. The eggplant was salted and went into a colander with some paper towels to lose some moisture and bitterness. This step isn't essential, but true Eggplant Parm connoisseurs will tell you that it just isn't the same without it. The gargantuan New Seasons checkout guy told me as much as he rang up our purchases. He looked like he had eaten a lot of Eggplant Parm in his life.

Once the eggplant had detoxified, I dipped the slices in beaten egg and then dredged them in breadcrumbs. They went promptly into a shallow pan of olive oil and I fried them for about three minutes on each side, until they were golden brown and crispy on the outside but squooshy in the middle. There is definitely a learning curve to this, as I burnt the first three rounds.

From there, all that is left to do is sautee some red onion and prepare a plate of basil leaves, thinly sliced tomato and sliced whole milk mozzarella. We also had provolone, but the mozzarella was far superior, in my opinion. I spread a thick layer of marinara on each side of the bread, then layered basil, three eggplant rounds, tomato slices, mozzarella and some sauteed onions. It was ridiculously good, extremely filling and according to Matt, even better reheated the next day.

As you may have learned by now, I am a fiddler. I like to fiddle with recipes, and while the marinara was good, I had a feeling it could be vastly improved upon with some minor tweaks. One recipe I read suggested using mirepoix (a mixture of finely diced carrot, onion and celery, or the "holy trinity" as it is sometimes called in French and French Creole cuisine), and I thought that might improve it, along with red pepper flakes. So I made it, and it was so good that I exclaimed "Holy fuck!" as I was taking the first bite. It shall henceforth be known as Holy Fuck Marinara, and here is the recipe:

Holy Fuck Marinara

You will need:
One 16 oz can whole tomatoes
One 4 oz can tomato paste
Four large cloves of garlic, minced
One whole small onion, diced finely
One medium carrot, diced finely
One rib of celery, diced finely
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more if you like to live dangerously)
1/2 cup torn basil leaves
1/4 cup olive oil

In a medium saucepan heat the olive oil until it shimmers and coats the pan easily. Add the garlic, onion, celery and carrot and sweat until everything is soft. To the softened mirepoix, add the tomato paste, salt, and both kinds of pepper. Stir this until the bits of mirepoix are incorporated into the tomato sauce, and it is softened and can be easily stirred - about 3 minutes. When this is done, add the can of tomatoes and begin breaking them up with your spoon as you incorporate the paste into the canned tomato juice. After a few minutes, the sauce should begin to thicken and is done, although it can be reduced by cooking it longer. Add the torn basil leaves and stir to incorporate.

I personally think this would be delicious with sliced mushrooms and some italian sausage, but it is also HOLY FUCK good just the way it is.