No probably not the kind you are thinking of. I learned to make these at this little Sicilian place I worked at. Lovely and pretty easy, those of you that don't eat meat can eliminate the mortadella (essentially a type of bologna) with maybe a few roasted red bell peppers. The trick on these is to make sure the mortadella and provolone slices are smaller than the eggplant rounds (the "bread" if you will of the sandwich). Clever idea my boss had coming up with these... Would be great served cut in halves with a nice fresh garlic mayo (remember to read my EMULSIONS thread if you are making mayo for the first time).
Oh yeah and to put you in the mood, a little live version of an old romantic diddy by Michael Franks called EGGPLANT:
Mis en place
Two medium eggplants, cutting round slices about 1/2 inch thick
12 or so pieces of mortadella small enough to fit inside diameter of eggplant slices
12 or so thin slices of provolone or a nice smoked mozzarella
Breading station consisting of:
bowl of seasoned white flour
bowl of beaten eggs
bowl of seasoned Italian style bread crumbs (PANKO crumbs would be a good variation !!)
Preheat oven to 400.
Grease a sheet pan with some EVO.
Slice the eggplant rounds, season both sides with salt and pepper, assemble the "sandwiches" by taking two slices of eggplant and placing a slice of mortadella and provolone in between. Brush a TEENIE bit of EVO on each sandwich. Now dip in seasoned flour, then the beaten eggs, then the seasoned bread crumbs. Place on the EVO'ed sheet pan and bake about 15 minutes or so, flip and bake other side until golden. Remove and place sandwiches on paper towels to blot up some of the grease. Serve with garlic mayo or a little dish of warm marinara. Great picnic hand food...
Oh yeah and to put you in the mood, a little live version of an old romantic diddy by Michael Franks called EGGPLANT:
Mis en place
Two medium eggplants, cutting round slices about 1/2 inch thick
12 or so pieces of mortadella small enough to fit inside diameter of eggplant slices
12 or so thin slices of provolone or a nice smoked mozzarella
Breading station consisting of:
bowl of seasoned white flour
bowl of beaten eggs
bowl of seasoned Italian style bread crumbs (PANKO crumbs would be a good variation !!)
Preheat oven to 400.
Grease a sheet pan with some EVO.
Slice the eggplant rounds, season both sides with salt and pepper, assemble the "sandwiches" by taking two slices of eggplant and placing a slice of mortadella and provolone in between. Brush a TEENIE bit of EVO on each sandwich. Now dip in seasoned flour, then the beaten eggs, then the seasoned bread crumbs. Place on the EVO'ed sheet pan and bake about 15 minutes or so, flip and bake other side until golden. Remove and place sandwiches on paper towels to blot up some of the grease. Serve with garlic mayo or a little dish of warm marinara. Great picnic hand food...
