Roasted Eggplant Towers

Method:

You will want to remove all the water that you can for the best results so, the day before take your eggplant and lay it out on upside-down sheet pans and sprinkle liberally with salt. You need to sandwich the sheet pans together and put a weight on them. This process will extract most all of the moisture out so be sure to leave the pans in the sink or in a larger container.

Next step is to pat the eggplant dry with a clean towel and then brush them with a little olive oil. Roast eggplant @350F until tender (about 20 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool. In a saut pan with olive oil, saut the shallots until translucent, add the garlic, tomatoes and basil and remove from heat. Let cool and mix with the feta. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Assemble two towers of eggplant by spreading cheese mixture on each slice of eggplant (exceptthe tops) and stacking one on top of the other. Cut towers in half so you have four portions and place in the oven until heated through and cheese is melted. Top with Marinara and Parmesan.

Serve with a Caesar salad and a good Valpolicella.

Marinara Sauce: I always make at least ten gallons at a time. I would be happy to send anybody my sauce recipes if you can use this much. Just e-mail me at chefelsner@msn.com --

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