INGREDIENTS:
1 medium eggplant (about 1.5 pounds), sliced about 1/4 thick, soaked and dried.
1 pound of thinly sliced chicken breast, pounded flat with a meat mallet.
3 cups of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce.
1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
3 cloves of garlic, minced.
1 tbsp of Italian seasoning.
1/2 pound of thinly sliced pepperoni.
1 cup of black olives, sliced.
1/2 cup to a cup of Parmesan cheese, grated.
1/2 cup to a cup of Mozzarella cheese, grated.
sea salt as needed.
Italian parsley for garnish.
Directions:
- Slice your eggplant and place slices into a large bowl of water.
- Allow to soak for at least an hour.
- Strain your eggplant, sprinkle with sea salt and place between paper or cloth towels to remove excess moisture.
- Let sit for a half hour.
- Mix your minced garlic and Italian seasoning into your tomato sauce.
- Add your tbsp of olive oil to you slow cooker, then add a few large spoons of tomato sauce, enough to coat the bottom of your slow cooker once stirred around.
- Use a meat mallet to pound your chicken breasts as thin as you can. Ideally they should be as thin or thinner than your eggplant slices.
- Set them aside.
- Start layering in this order starting from the bottom. Sauce, eggplant, parmesan cheese, chicken, sauce, mozzarella cheese, black olives, pepperoni, more cheese.
- Repeat until ingredients are used up, you should have about 2 chicken layers, 3 tops.
- Try to set aside some sauce / cheese / olives / pepperoni for the top.
- Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5 hours.
- Once finished cooking, remove ceramic crock and place on your stovetop to let it cool with the lid cracked.
- Drain excess fat with a turkey baster.
- Remove with a pair of spatulas if you want to get the beast out in one piece like I did!