Christmas eve: An ode to eggplant

In our family, we write long tributes, songs, and poems about this dish. I make it most years for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or both. This year, for Thanksgiving, I didn't make it and my husband was sad. My niece and I made it on Christmas eve. It takes a while to fry the eggplant and then let it bake, but it's worth it. Allow 4-ish hours of time--more if you're cooking on your own.

  
We made 5 medium eggplants. Peel them and slice them about 1/2 inch thick.

 
Fry them forever. The middle one is almost done.

Take the out of the pan and let them sit and drain on paper towels. You can press them if you want them less greasy. They have a lot of oil in them!

 
Layer them, sauce, eggplant, sauce, more eggplant, and top with sauce and then bake an hour. Serve with spaghetti noodles.

I always add kale to mine so it's more Christmas-y looking!
http://veryveryverygreen.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-dinner.html.

Don't plan to move after eating--VERY filling.