Mama Dip’s Eggplant Casserole

MILDRED COUNCIL, BETTER KNOWN AS MAMA DIP at her legendary restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been nourishing everybody from Craig Claiborne to Garrison Keillor to Michael Jordan to flocks of UNC students for the past thirty years. A mecca of classic Southern dishes, Mama Dip’s Kitchen turns out platters of fried chicken, beef short ribs, and chitlins, pots of succotash and okra and tomatoes, and rich fruit cobblers and puddings, but sometimes I think I could devote an entire meal to this eggplant casserole made, yes, with canned mushroom soup. I had to learn the hard way that certain vegetable dishes (traditional string bean and almond casserole, my mother’s broccoli casserole, and certainly this eggplant casserole) never turn out right when a fresh sauce is substituted for canned soups. For heaven’s sake, don’t ask me why; it’s simply a fact of life—like it or not. When I once broached the subject with Mama Dip, she just looked me straight in the eye and said, “Aw, honey, don’t be such a snob. If something’s good, it’s good, and that’s all that matters.” Case closed. Mama Dip makes this casserole with both sliced and mashed eggplant, depending on her mood. Both are delicious.

MAKES: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 medium eggplants, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1  10 3/4-ounce can cream of mushroom soup
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup cracker crumbs mixed with 2 tablespoons melted butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Place the eggplant slices in a large pot and add enough salted water to cover them.
3. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook the eggplant slices until tender, which usually takes about 15 minutes.
4. Drain all the water from the pot.
5. Add the melted butter, whole milk, cream of mushroom soup, beaten eggs, grated Parmesan cheese, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to the pot with the cooked eggplant.
6. Stir the mixture until all the ingredients are well blended.
7. Scrape the mixture into a 1 1/2-quart casserole or baking dish.
8. In a separate bowl, mix the cracker crumbs with the melted butter.
9. Sprinkle the buttered cracker crumbs evenly over the top of the eggplant mixture in the casserole dish.
10. Bake the dish in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown, which usually takes about 30 minutes.
11. Serve the dish hot.