Layered like a cake, with caramelized tomatoes and gooey, stretchy mozzarella for the cake’s icing, our Flourless Eggplant Parmesan is perfect. Dare we say, you’ve never tried anything like this Flourless Eggplant Parmesan. And that is true even if you hail from Italy. Bite after bite, eggplant and cheese melt in your mouth. Without even a dash of sugar, tomatoes are deeply sweet. Roasted only with oil, eggplant slices are luscious. Not only is the Flourless Eggplant Parmesan irresistibly delicious; it is also nourishing. No flour, sugar or eggs. Want to know how we attained the perfect taste and texture, without sacrificing the nutrition? Of course, we hid the secret in the recipe. Fine … we’ll whisper the secret into your ear: We double-caramelize the tomatoes, slice the eggplants and mozzarella paper-thin, and add fresh herbs.
Place eggplant slices in a colander set over a sink and sprinkle with 1/2 to 1 tbs Kosher salt. Cover with a flat plate and a heavy object on top (e.g., a bottle filled up with water) and let drain for one hour, turning once or twice. (Never leave overnight or for more than three hours, as the salt will harden the eggplant.)
When done, thoroughly rinse the eggplant slices with water and tap dry with kitchen or paper towels.
In a 4-qt Dutch oven, over low-medium heat, warm up 1 tbs avocado oil. Reduce heat to low. Add the sliced shallots and thyme leaves and cook, uncovered, stirring, until soft and translucent but not yet browning, for about 4 to 6 minutes.
Stir in the diced tomatoes and garlic. Increase heat to high and, periodically stirring, bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, and periodically stirring to avoid burning, simmer the sauce, uncovered, for at least 35 minutes. The sauce is ready when it looks like a chunky puree and reduced by half. (Want to know why we cook the sauce so long? Easy answer: once the liquid has evaporated, the tomatoes begin to caramelize.)
Off heat, stir in basil. Let the sauce cool and transfer into a medium bowl. No need to wash the Dutch oven; you'll reuse later in the recipe.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a large baking sheet with the unbleached parchment paper. (We were using our gourmet convection oven, but a conventional oven works too.) Arrange the eggplant slices side by side (they can overlap around the edges) and brush them with 1/3 cup avocado oil. (Yup, that's a lot of oil, but eggplant soaks it up like a sponge.)
Roast for 15 minutes, turning halfway to avoid burning. When ready, let cool for 10 minutes.
Place 4 tbsp of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the 4-qt Dutch oven. Then arrange the eggplant slices on top of the sauce, laying the slices flat. (Make sure to cover the sauce fully. It's okay for the eggplant slices to overlap around the edges.) Then, on top of the eggplant layer, place another 2-3 tbsp of the sauce. On top of the tomato sauce, loosely arrange mozzarella slices. (The mozzarella slices should not overlap.) Sprinkle mozzarella slices with 1 tsp Parmeggiano.
Repeat again, starting now with the eggplant slices (followed by the sauce, then by the mozzarella slices, and finally by Parmeggiano). When you reach the top eggplant layer, you can add only the sauce and increase (to about 2 tbsp) Parmeggiano. (No need to place mozzarella on the top layer, but you can.)
Cover the Dutch oven tightly with a lid. Bake the dish at 400 degrees for 1 hour. Because the dish is extremely hot, please let it cool with the lid on to about room temperature before serving. Slow cooling with the lid closed will help redistribute the juices and intensify the rich flavors! The Flourless Eggplant Parmesan is ready to enjoy!
Servings 0