Home cooking at its best, this delicious gratin is perfect for a mid-week supper, as it can be assembled ahead of time and then finished when needed. Don’t be intimidated by the separate steps of frying the eggplant rounds and making the béchamel; it all comes together quickly. To make it easier and save time and effort, I skip the usual third step by using a good-quality store-bought marinara sauce, but you can certainly use your homemade version.
Making béchamel, one of the basic sauces in European cuisine, feels like magic: A bit of butter, some milk, and a tablespoon or two of flour transforms into a rich, smooth, and incredibly useful sauce, perfect for elevating any dish to gourmet status.
