Eggplants are not all the same. Lidia choose and preps different eggplants, then demonstrates how to cook them. For eggplant parmigiana, a most popular Italian-American meatless dish, fried eggplant is layered with cheese and tomato sauce, then baked bubbling hot. For ziti alla nona (grandma’s eggplant and pasta), a roasted eggplant, cubed, breaded then sautéed into the pasta. Whatever Nonawants.