St. Louis Restaurants have Shitty Eggplant Parm

So St. Louis Italian food is pretty weak. On top of that, they have some pretty shitty eggplant parm. So here's yet another thing that you should consider just making at home.

Really good eggplant parm is greasy crap with cheese and sauce. The fact that it's vegetarian's just a way to keep people happy.

Oh wait... this recipe was based off the "How to Cook Everything" book that the Lady supposedly bought for herself to learn how to cook food...

Ingredients:

2 Medium Eggplants
Flour
3 cups - shredded Cheese - I just get whatever "Italian Mix" is on sale. You can be all fancy and get mozzarella (for the inside) and parmesan (for the crusty topping) but I'm too cheap for that.
Fresh Basil

2 cups Tomato Sauce:
http://urbandrivel.blogspot.com/2007/10/marinara-sauce-americas-test-kitchen.html

Notice how this is sort of similar to the zuppa di clams recipe... it's no coincidence, folks.

Optional Super Robust Stuff
16oz sliced Mushrooms
Crushed Garlic (lots)

Slice the eggplant thin, like a 1/4 inch thing. You can trim some of the skin off but that's supposedly the healthy part. Salt both sides with coarse salt and drain in a colander for 30 minutes or so. Rinse and squeeze dry with a paper towel. (My mom was like don't throw the paper towel away! You can still use it! We did. :P)

Heat up olive oil in a large skillet/pan to medium heat. Dredge eggplant slices in flour and brown both sides, about 3-4 minutes a side. Drain on something (like those air dried paper towels from earlier... :P). Add black pepper as they cook (remember that the eggplant's already been pretty salted.)

Super unhealthy optional delicious thing to do:

So after going through all that eggplant, you now have a boat load of brown floury goodness. Hopefully, none of it is burnt... you can get rid of that. Toss in shrooms and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and saute. Set aside.

In a baking dish, spoon the sauce to just coat the bottom. Layer down eggplant, cheese, basil, shrooms, cheese, and repeat with the last being cheese. Don't let your structure touch the edges, pour the remaining sauce around the edges. Your thing won't be stuck to the pan that way.

Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes. Mince some basil on top and serve with any of the remaining sauce.