The blog of a bum who thinks too much. Or, maybe not enough.

About Me -- Confusion abounds

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Urbana, Illinois, United States
Thirty-one-year-old gay guy blogging for blog's sake.

2011-01-22

Eggplant Parmesan




















Pan size 9 x 99 x 1310 x 14
Ingredients
Eggs3 or 4 eggs scrambled4 or 5 eggs scrambled5 or 6 eggs scrambled
Sauce1 Jar of sauce of your choice. (Approximately 2 cups.)1 or 2 jars of sauce of your sauce.(Between 2 to 4 cups of sauce.)2 Jars of sauce of your choice plus maybe one 4-oz can of tomato sauce.(4+ cups of sauce.)
Cheese1 package of shredded cheese of your choice.(2 cups.)1 or 2 packages of shredded cheese of your choice. (Between 2 and 3 cups.) 2 packages of cheese of your choice.(4 cups.)
Eggplants1 Medium and 1 small;or maybe 2 medium.2 Medium3 medium; or 2 medium and 1 large.

Other Ingredients you will need:
  • Parmesan cheese (The stuff from the can is fine.)
  • Seasoned breadcrumbs (of any variety [unseasoned, Italian, etc]).
  • Olive oil (of any variety).

The necessary cooking hardware:
  • Large Cast-iron pan
  • 2 bowls (Of a sufficient size to hold staged eggplant slices.)
  • Your lasagna pan (obviously)
  • Plates lined with paper-towels
  • Kitchen tongs.

The first step in anything you will ever do in your life is to stage your gear! I learned that in the Marine Corps. So far, that way of thinking has served me well. For this recipe, you will need to:

Gear Stage:
1. Stage at least one plate with a paper-towel on top of that plate. You will need to do that to absorb excess olive oil.
2. Stage your scrambled eggs in one bowl next to your breadcrumb bowl. Throw in a few spoonfuls of Parmesan cheese into the scrambled eggs. Use as much or as little as you want.
3. Stage your breadcrumbs in another bowl next to your egg wash bowl.
4. Wash your eggplants with clean water. After washing, slice your eggplants into approximate 1cm slices.
5. Cover the bottom of your lasagna pan with a moderate layer of sauce.
6. While slicing your eggplant you may want to pre-heat your cast-iron pan with 1cm of olive oil in the bottom on high. This step can be done after all the eggplant slices are ready for cooking.

Recipe Stage:
To start making this recipe you will need to:
1: Cover your eggplant slices with the egg wash.
2: Cover each washed eggplant slice with breadcrumbs. (You can stage multiple eggplant slices in the egg wash and the breadcrumb bowl.)
3: Gently place into the cast-iron pan using Kitchen tongs. Hot olive oil sometimes splatters, so you might also want to have a splash guard handy, although it probably won't be necessary.
4: Cook the eggplant slices 2 to 3 minutes per side. Each slice should be golden brown on each side when done.
5: Place one layer of cooked eggplant slices on paper towel. You can have multiple layers of paper towels per plate.
6: When all of your eggplant slices are cooked you will need to lay down one layer of eggplant into the lasagna pan.
7: Cover your first eggplant slice layer with a moderate amount of sauce first, followed by....
8: ....a moderate covering of shredded cheese.<
REMEMBER!: You will need to spread out the amount of egg wash, breadcrumbs, sauce, and cheese for the size of the pan you are using. While covering your eggplant slice layers, use your best judgment so you don't run out of a necessary ingredients during your prep time.
9: Repeat step 6 and place your next layer on top of your previous layer.
10: Repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 until all of your eggplant slices are used. You should get three complete layers of eggplant, sauce, and cheese, per dish. If you don't, that is OK. If your top layer does not have enough slices to completely cover the lower layer, just spread it out as evenly as you can.

Note A: If you have excessive spaces in between your eggplant slices, you can just dice the small eggplant slices and fill in the gaps.
Note B: If you realize you don't have enough egg wash or breadcrumbs to make it through your recipe, that is OK. Just scramble one more egg to give yourself enough wash, and just pour in some more breadcrumbs, into each respective bowl. Finding extra sauce or cheese might be more difficult, that is why I also suggest one extra 4-oz can of sauce. They can bump you up to where you need to be. If you are making a large recipe I suggest you have at least one near by.

Cooking Directions:
When your eggplant Parmesan is completely assembled, simply put it in a pre-heated oven until the cheese is bubbly and the top of the lasagna is lightly golden brown. The oven temp is set to 350.

Remember!: All cooking times, temperatures, and measurements are approximate. Practice, and have fun.

Gear Stage:
1. Stage at least one plate with a paper-towel on top of that plate. You will need to do that to absorb excess olive oil.
From eggplantparmesan

2. Stage your scrambled eggs in one bowl next to your breadcrumb bowl. Throw in a few spoonfuls of Parmesan cheese into the scrambled eggs. Use as much or as little as you want.
3. Stage your breadcrumbs in another bowl next to your egg wash bowl.
From eggplantparmesan

4. Wash your eggplants with clean water. After washing, slice your eggplants into approximate 1cm slices. Note: Ignore the partial capture of the sink with soapy water! I just used that sink to wash dirty dishes, not to wash the eggplants!]
From eggplantparmesan

From eggplantparmesan

5. Cover the bottom of your lasagna pan with a moderate layer of sauce.
From eggplantparmesan

6. While slicing your eggplant you may want to pre-heat your cast-iron pan with 1cm of olive oil in the bottom on high. This step can be done after all the eggplant slices are ready for cooking.
From eggplantparmesan


Recipe Stage:
1: Cover your eggplant slices with the egg wash.
2: Cover each washed eggplant slice with breadcrumbs. (You can stage multiple eggplant slices in the egg wash and the breadcrumb bowl.)
3: Gently place into the cast-iron pan using Kitchen tongs. Hot olive oil sometimes splatters, so you might also want to have a splash guard handy, although it probably won’t be necessary.
From eggplantparmesan

From eggplantparmesan

From eggplantparmesan

4: Cook the eggplant slices 2 to 3 minutes per side. Each slice should be golden brown on each side when done.
5: Place one layer of cooked eggplant slices on paper towel. You can have multiple layers of paper towels per plate.
From eggplantparmesan

From eggplantparmesan

6: When all of your eggplant slices are cooked you will need to lay down one layer of eggplant into the lasagna pan. Remember, you previously slathered the bottom of your lasagna pan with a moderate layer of sauce!
From eggplantparmesan

From eggplantparmesan

7: Cover your first eggplant slice layer with a moderate amount of sauce first, followed by....
8: ....a moderate covering of shredded cheese.
From eggplantparmesan


REMEMBER!: You will need to spread out the amount of egg wash, breadcrumbs, sauce, and cheese for the size of the pan you are using. While covering your eggplant slice layers, use your best judgment so you don't run out of a necessary ingredients during your prep time.
9: Repeat step 6 and place your next layer on top of your previous layer.
10: Repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 until all of your eggplant slices are used. You should get three complete layers of eggplant, sauce, and cheese, per dish. If you don't, that is OK. If your top layer does not have enough slices to completely cover the lower layer, just spread it out as evenly as you can.

2011-01-15

The New HDTV

Finally, Kevin and I decided to upgrade our standard definition to a shiny, new HDTV. It was all pretty sweet actually.

Near the very end of last year (2010), Kevin was looking at HDTVs trying to figure out which brand and model would best serve us in his house. So we bounced back and forth between Sears and Best Buy, while I also perused Amazon.com for reader reviews. Since Kevin's house isn't huge, we decided that a 40" HDTV would be the best for the living room. As we researched the televisions, I came to the conclusion that a plasma TV would be the absolute best value for what we were willing to spend. Kevin was worried about energy consumption, so he was leaning heavily in favor of LED TVs. We were butting heads a little bit as to which type of HDTV we should get. Eventually we did come an agreement.

Through out troubles we decided that buying the 46" Aquos was the best deal. There were actually two different models that we were looking at, and we decided to buy the close-out model because it did not have integrated wifi. Since I already own a PS3, buying a TV with practically the same technology would have been a waste.

So Kevin bought the TV and we picked it up this passing Thursday. We unpacked it, and damn, the thing is huge. During the planning phase of our expenditure, we realized that the absolute largest HDTV we could accommodate would be a 43" flat-screen. This TV is three inches larger. So yes, it does overpower the living room when it is turned toward the couch. Although, the HDTV is really, surprisingly light, and only a few inches thick.

My only complaint against this TV is that it still has refresh issues with regard to my PS3 video games; namely, the fast action in first-person shooters is lost whenever the player (me) turns quickly left or right. Interesting. Now, this blur isn't too bad. It is something I am nearly used to. Hell, this TV actually displays detail, which is something I couldn't see on Kevin's old SDTV, so I'm really very grateful for that. I just feel that a plasma TV would have handled the requirements of current-generation video games. I also feel that Kevin overestimated the energy inefficiency when comparing different HDTVs to each other. So; if he believed that plasma TVs weren't energy sinks, he probably would have considered some of the models I suggested. Then we both would have been extremely satisfied.

Anyway...did we make a good decision? Yes we did. I'm happy because I can actually see detail when I play my video games, and I can experience true HD whenever I watch my BD movies; and I'll bet Kevin is happy because he'll be able to enjoy his brutish football games.

Naturally, things don't happen unless there are pictures:


From newhdtv


Interestingly, the SDTV was 27", and it was damn heavy. It prevented the doors on the stand from closing properly. After we switched out the TVs, the doors could close fully. Whodathunk?
From newhdtv


From newhdtv


From newhdtv


From newhdtv


From newhdtv


From newhdtv


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