Ingredients:

• 2 medium eggplants, cut into ¼ inch slices
• 10 slices Pepperidge Farm white bread
• 11/3  cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup flour
• 4 large eggs
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ pound mozzarella
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 3 cans (14 ½ ounces) diced tomatoes
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 ½ tablespoon dried basil
• 1 bay leaf

 Procedure:

Salt the eggplant and let sit in a colander for about 40 minutes until some of the liquid has leached out. Press firmly between paper towels to remove more of the liquid. Pull the bread into large pieces and pulse in a food processor to get fine crumbs.

Place in a gratin pan and add 1/3 cup parmesan.Add 1/3 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Place the flour in a Ziploc bag and add 1 teaspoon pepper and shake. Place beaten eggs in another shallow dish.

 Shake the eggplants in the flour,shaking off excess, dredge in eggs, again removing excess and coat with cheese mixture. Place 4 tablespoon live oil on each of 2 sheet trays and place eggplant on it.

Bake at 400* (convection),flipping eggplant as needed. Bake about 25-30 minutes until crisp.

For the Sauce:

Coarsely chop 2 cans of tomatoes in the food processor.

Put olive oil in a heavy saucepan and sauté the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until garlic is fragrant, but not brown. Add the tomatoes and the herbs and bay leaf. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes and adjust seasoning.

To Plate:

In a large casserole dish, layer in 1 cup sauce and then eggplant, overlapping as needed. Then 1 cup sauce/ half of the moz, remaining eggplant, 1 cup sauce, parmesan and remaining moz. Bake for another 12-14 minutes or until cheese is golden.

 Serves 8.