I always have tomato sauce in the kitchen, and that is what I would use to bake these eggplant fans. But if you don’t have any on hand, or don’t want to make it, just use homemade or canned chicken broth. The idea is to keep the eggplants moist as they bake.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 appetizer or side-dish servings

　　2 small firm eggplants (about 10 ounces each)

　　Salt

　　1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

　　12 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch slices

　　2 medium beefsteak tomatoes, cored and cut into 4 thick slices each

　　1/2 cup fine, dry bread crumbs

　　5 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

　　10 leaves fresh basil, torn into pieces

　　1/2 cup Tomato Sauce (page 151, or another) or canned reduced-sodium chicken broth

　　

Step 1

Leave the eggplants untrimmed and cut them in half lengthwise through the stems. Lay the eggplant halves cut side down and, leaving the eggplants attached at the stem, make four evenly spaced cuts all the way down to the work surface that start just below the stem and run down to the tip of the eggplant. Sprinkle all the cut surfaces lightly with salt and rub them with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Lay the eggplant, cut side down and side by side, in a 13 × 9–inch baking dish (or equivalent-size dish into which the eggplants fit comfortably).

　　

Step 2

Cut the mozzarella and tomato slices in half. Tuck a half-slice of tomato and mozzarella in between the cuts in the eggplant. Season lightly with salt. Stir the bread crumbs and 3 tablespoons of the grated cheese together in a small bowl and sprinkle over the eggplants. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons grated cheese and the basil over the eggplants, and drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over them. Ladle the tomato sauce or broth between the eggplants and cover the dish with aluminum foil.

　　

Step 3

Bake 20 minutes, uncover the dish, and continue baking until the eggplants are tender and the bread-crumb topping is golden brown, about 10 minutes.

　　Cooks' Note

　　Open up the slits of the eggplant and fill with tomato and mozzarella.

　　From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright © 2001 by A La Carte Communications and Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Buy the full book from Amazon.