Quick Eggplant Fix:

If you don't have 4 hours to bake this thing and you don't have any tomato sauce ready, you can pull off a good approximation in about 2 hours start to finish.

Heat the oven to 350°F. Sprinkle the eggplant slices with salt—enough to coat them-and let sit for 15 to 30 minutes.

While the eggplant is sitting, start your sauce: combine 4 cloves of garlic and ½ cup of olive oil in a saucepan over low heat. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring or swirling the pan occasionally, until the garlic is golden and fragrant. Keep the heat low. If the garlic starts to smell acrid or sharp or appears to be browning, pull the pan off the burner and reduce the heat.

While the garlic is getting golden, open a 28-ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes, pour them into a bowl, and crush them with your hands. After the garlic's been going for 10 minutes, dump in the tomatoes and add a tiny pinch of red pepper flakes and maybe a teaspoon of salt. Turn the heat to medium so the sauce simmers, but not too aggressively. Cook, stirring from time to time, while you do the eggplant.

Now the eggplant: Brush off any excess salt, but don't fret over it. Toss the eggplant slices with lh cup olive oil and a few turns of white pepper. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake as directed in the recipe.

Okay, the eggplant is baked and the sauce has had as much time as you have for it to cook. Assemble the dish as directed in the recipe and bake it for as long as possible. After an hour or so, you should be good.

The Way we used to do it:

We used to use twice as much mozzarella to make this. We'd lay it in the pan between each layer of eggplant. We've moved away from that method because the cheese takes on a strange though not unlikable rubberiness, and we don't like the way eating long-cooked cheese makes us feel. But, hey, if that's what you're into, it's cool. We were there once, too.