Yesterday Bruno came home with two gigantic fresh eggplants!! Before I could let the skin get wrinkly or any soft spots to form I got chopping.
1. Rinse and rub the eggplant under running water
2. Slice in round disks or half moons no thicker than a little pinky finger width
3. leave on a cookie tray sprinkled with course salt until water is released (20 min), wipe dry with a towel, paint with olive oil and bake in the over for 10 minutes
4. Make a white bechamel sauce - melt butter in a saucepan (2-3 Tablespoons), add flour spoonful by spoonful and stirring constantly until a dry paste is formed. Add milk splash by splash stirring and blending. Keep adding milk until you have a smooth creamy sauce
5. sautee onions, garlic, a bay leaf, a piece of cinnamon stick in olive oil. Add a can of peeled crushed tomatoes with sauce and let cook a few minutes
6. Now you can layer like lasagna - eggplant slices, red sauce, white sauce, eggplant, red, white etc until the big pan is full and covered with white sauce on top
Bake for 30 some minutes, 180 C

Yum!