La Cucina Italiana: Segundi

Day four of Italian cooking = SEGUNDI, the second course! 
On the menu for today was eggplant parmesan, chicken marsala and meatballs. We were sure to stick to the very traditional and very Italian ways of making these meals; meaning we go light on garlic, don't cook the basil in super early, and focus on fresh ingredients. bellisimo! 


It began with peeling, slicing, and draining the bitter juices out of the eggplant. We then made two separate eggplant parmesan dishes; one where the eggplant slices were covered in flour and an egg wash, and the other was eggplant in flour, egg wash, and bread crumbs (my personal favorite of the two). 

After preparing the eggplant, we popped em on the fryer for a few minutes in order to prepare them for the casserole dish. 

it smelled so good....and so dangerously tempting

We stacked the slices of eggplant similar to how one would prepare a lasagna. There were layers of eggplant followed by a tomato based sauce, slices of mozzarella, and tons of parmesan cheese sprinkled atop! so yum.

There was so much to be done today, that the eggplant parmesan was the main dish I got thoroughly involved in. At the same time, meatballs were being rolled and chicken marsala was being cooked! After all the second course dishes were finished and ready, we feasted in the sunny courtyard. It was a long day, and this was by far the most satisfying meal of the week.