parmesan crusted eggplant

safeway, or at least every safeway i've ever been to, sucks. aside from being impossible to navigate, their produce is miserable and their selection elsewhere is always horrendously lacking. my last two weeks in portland, however, were marked by serious immobility, and so off to safeway i walked.
and that's how i wound up with these three chinese eggplants. amidst a sea of battered carrots and woody asparagus, these looked beautiful and vibrant. i bought three, along with some oats (for another batch of granola) and some yogurt (which, come to think of it, probably would have made for an awesome dipping sauce for the following eggplant idea. next time...). and that was my last trip to safeway for the summer.
anyways, i spent the next 24 hours asking everyone what on earth they like do with eggplant--because all the common preparations i know of all share one thing in common, which involves a total obscuring of eggplant taste, texture, and general eggplantiness. they call for frying the bejeesus out of it, drowning it in casseroles of heavy tomato sauce and mozzarella, or puréeing it into baba ghanoush. don't get me wrong, i love baba ghanoush; but i wanted something that would showcase what makes eggplant great rather than masking it as much as possible. to be honest, i'm not entirely sure i succeeded (had this been posted a few weeks earlier, things might have been very different) but what resulted was damn good. i used a similar parmesan crusting technique that i love so much on tofu, jacking it up with some more cracker crumbs, and served the suckers on a bed of sautéed swiss chard that i found moping in my produce drawer.

this isn't eggplant parmesan, though; nor is it a deep-fried, breaded monster. it yields little discs of eggplant that are crispy and cheesy on the outside but still have that soft, melty eggplant thing going on in the middle that only an oven or a grill can give you. and the chard, well, it's totally optional, but why not?
parmesan crusted eggplant with swiss chard
serves 4 as a side

• 3 medium chinese eggplants, washed and cut into 1/2" thick discs*
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 1/3 cup bread or panko crumbs, or finely crushed crackers**
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 bunch swiss chard or other green, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
  
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed and minced
• olive oil
• red pepper flakes
  
• salt and pepper to taste

*if you think of it, you can cut up your eggplant an hour or so in advance, salt the pieces well and place them in a colander over the sink. after an hour, rinse them well to remove salt and squeeze eggplant with your hands to remove moisture. this helps pull out any bitter juices that might be in your eggplant, and it also collapses air pockets so the eggplant is less absorbent. since we're not frying here, i wasn't too worried about too much oil absorption, but it's up to you and might be a good idea if you're using a larger eggplant.
**i used garlicky whole wheat crackers, placed in a plastic bag and crushed with a rolling pin, and i really liked the flavor they added here, but use whatever you like.

preheat oven to 375°F. grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

combine bread crumbs, parmesan and garlic salt on a plate. in a separate, small bowl, lightly beat egg.

dunk eggplant discs in egg wash and roll them generously in parmesan mixture, coating well. place them on baking sheet. bake until crispy and golden, about 20 minutes (but keep an eye on them), turning once halfway through.

while eggplant is baking, heat a glug of olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy pot until shimmering. add swiss chard (you might have to work in batches, adding handfuls of chard and letting them cook down and collapse to make room for the next). cook until bright green and slightly wilted but not overcooked or mushy. about 30 seconds before you're done, stir in crushed garlic, a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. remove from heat and set aside.

when eggplant is done, throw it on top of your chard. add an additional sprinkling of salt and crushed red pepper, if you like, and serve immediately. (admittedly, a tomato or yogurt dipping sauce would probably be good here.)