Excellent Eggplant Parmesan

This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe I saw on Throw Down, with Bobby Flay. This recipe is from Bobby Flay's challenger. I found the recipe on the food network website. The original recipe called for two eggplants, but I found that was too much. It also used 28 oz of Marinara sauce, but making it in a 9x13" dish, that was too little. The chef's recipe also said to use sliced, dry mozzarella, but I preferred grated. The original recipe didn't specify a pan size, so I made it in a 9x13" dish. You could, however, scale down the recipe and cook it in an 8x8 or 9x9" dish.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 1  large eggplant
•  vegetable oil
• 1⁄2 cup flour
• 4  eggs, scrambled
• 1  cup  breadcrumbs
• 2 -3  cups mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1  cup romano cheese, grated
• 48  ounces  marinara sauce

Directions

1. Peel the eggplant, and cut it in half length-wise.
2. Cut into 1/4" slices.
3. Coat eggplant slices in flour, dip in egg, and then coat with bread crumbs.
4. Continue with all slices piling onto a plate.
5. Pour oil (I use vegetable oil) into a saute pan using enough to submerse eggplant slices.
6. Fry until lightly browned on each side. Remove to plate.
7. Pour enough Marinara sauce to cover bottom of 9x13" dish with a thin layer.
8. Add eggplant in a single layer.
9. Pour additional Marinara sauce to cover top of eggplant. Add about 1 & 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese, and sprinkle 1/2 cup of Romano cheese over.
10. Continue with the next layer of sauce, eggplant, sauce, and the remainder of the cheese.
11. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.