At the request of my grandmother, who is visiting us this week in honor of my little brother's high school graduation, I have remade the Eggplant and Zucchini Parmesan from a couple of months ago. Because I basically used the same recipe, I will not waste space writing it out again. The link to the earlier post is http://frataliangirl.blogspot.com/2013/04/week-10-eggplant-and-zucchini-parmesan.html.
Anyway, I tweaked a few things from the first time around, and it turned out spectacular. First, I added some onion salt to the sauce in addition to some regular salt. I think this helped balance the flavor a bit. Secondly, I basically flash-fried the vegetables for about 60-90 seconds per side on high heat so that each piece got a bit of browning before being added to the dish. Thirdly, I topped the dish with some extra Italian Cheese blend (pre-shredded), which is sort of like cheating, but I should have sliced more Parmesan for the top, so I readily admit my mistake and, thus, you see that I had to make due with the resources I had. Finally, I increased the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and left the dish in the oven for an extra five minutes. This added the nice browning of the cheese that I was lacking the first time.
Overall, everyone loved it, and it was much less involved because I knew what I was doing better, plus I had my mom made all the extras that I made myself last time (like the sausage and the pasta). In conclusion, I would highly recommend following the revised steps from this post if you attempt to make the dish in the near future. You will get much better results than I did my first time around. I think the most important lesson I learned this week is that dedicated practice will improve my skills in many endeavors, not just cooking. This dish was fantastic the first time, but it was near exquisite the second time.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to trying a new recipe next week (I'm not spoiling the surprise by telling you right now), but for now, we've got a graduation to celebrate. Until next time, happy eating!
