Eggplant Josephine My Way

When I was growing up, the White Pillars was a popular local restaurant owned by the Mladinich family of Biloxi.  Housed in an old 1919 white mansion located at the foot of Rodenburg Avenue right on the beach at Highway 90, owned originally by Dr. and Mrs. H. M. Folkes, and then called Gunston Hall, the restaurant was a beautiful and elegant structure.

I don't remember why or when it was that White Pillars closed, though I do want to say that it must've been somewhere in the late 70s. The boarded up building, still standing at the time of Hurricane Katrina, was extensively damaged by that storm, but there was some talk about a renaissance shortly thereafter. Since we have lost so many historical structures in Katrina, I do hope that The White Pillars does reopen one day.

One of the signature dishes at The White Pillars was called Eggplant Josephine - a layered mixture of eggplant, lump crab, marinara sauce, and cheese, topped with Hollandaise sauce - and while it has been at least 30 years since that dish was last served at The White Pillars, just the mention of it invokes fond memories of special occasion dinners at The White Pillars Restaurant for many people. I don't know how it came to be named Eggplant Josephine, though I am certain there must be a story there somewhere, but the dish is a little bit of a glamorized twist on classic Eggplant Parmesan in my opinion.  Like it, there is a layer of eggplant that has been dredged in a coating and fried, but that eggplant is then topped with a layer of fresh, lump crabmeat, then marinara sauce, and finally topped with cheese.

On September 20, 1989, after many requests, the Sun Herald published a recipe called Eggplant Josephine. The recipe was submitted to them by Dr. Jim Culveyhouse of Gulfport, who when asked how he obtained the sought-after recipe, replied "don't ask." This is the Eggplant Josephine recipe that is floating around the internet to this day.  I also understand that this recipe is featured in the cookbook, Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.  I have no idea if the internet recipe is anything close to being authentic to the original, but I did use that as a guideline for my version, which I call 'Eggplant Josephine, My Way.'

The hardest part of this recipe is picking through the fresh crabmeat to find those stray pieces of shell and cartilage.  One tip to help remedy that, is to spread the crabmeat out on a baking sheet, and run it very quickly under a very hot broiler - only about a minute or so. The cartilage with turn from clear to opaque and will be easier to spot and pull out.

Since I was feeling a bit under the weather when I made this and this was my first time ever making this dish, I didn't bother with cooking either the pasta or the hollandaise sauce and just ate mine plain this time. Since I loved this dish however, I anticipate that the next time this is on the menu, I will be making both the pasta and the hollandaise. By the way, the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sauterne white wine, but since I do not cook with alcohol I substituted chicken broth.

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Eggplant Josephine My Way
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

1 large eggplant
1/4 cup of self rising flour
Bacon fat or canola oil
1 pound of lump crabmeat
1/4 cup of pure butter
1/2 cup sauterne white wine (or can
   substitute chicken broth)
3-1/2 cups of marinara sauce, homemade or commercial
Salt and pepper, to taste
Slap Ya Mama, or your favorite, Cajun seasoning, to taste
2 cups of shredded Swiss or mozzarella cheese
Cooked spaghetti noodles, optional
Hollandaise sauce, optional

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with non-stick spray and set aside. Pick through the crabmeat well to extract any small pieces of cartilage and shell.

Peel the eggplant and slice into about 8 slices. Heat bacon fat or oil in skillet over medium high heat. Dredge the eggplant in the flour and brown both sides of the eggplant in the hot bacon fat. Set aside on a rack to drain.

In a small skillet, melt the butter and add the chicken broth. Add the crabmeat and gently toss, letting low simmer about 5 minutes.

Layer the eggplant slices in the bottom of the baking dish. Top each slice with the crabmeat, sprinkle with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning. Pour the sauce over the top of the crabmeat. Sprinkle top with shredded cheese.

Cover and bake at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Can also run under the broiler to brown the top if desired. Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving, while you make the hollandaise sauce. Eat as is, or place each serving over a bed of spaghetti noodles, and spoon hollandaise over the top of each serving, if desired.

Source:  http://www.deepsouthdish.com

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