To Update Eggplant Parm, Just Add Smoke

August is the best time to assemble this summer classic

Big purple-black eggplants and good tomatoes have arrived in New York City farmers markets. It’s about time: Jackie and I have been itching for eggplant parmigiana for a while, and one of the games we play is to wait for local seasonal produce before scratching these culinary itches.

What we’d been looking forward to was the same eggplant/aubergine parmigiana we have every summer: Sliced eggplant, fried (or baked on a sheet pan with lots of oil); a simple tomato sauce; mozzarella; grated Parmesan; and basil or mint, all layered in a baking dish and cooked in the oven until bubbling hot, then left to cool for a while. Over the years, I’ve varied it, often with disappointing results, yet something possessed me to vary it again. This time, there was no disappointment, and neither Jackie nor I missed our old-standby recipe — which is not to say we won’t return to it soon and often.

The twist here was to add new flavor and texture to the eggplant and to intensify the flavor of the tomatoes (fresh, not turned into sauce). The new flavor was one that is often sought in eggplant cookery, though not, as far as I know, in this dish: the smokiness of charred skin, whose distinctive brittle texture remained intact even when the dish was baked and…