Egglpant Parmigiana
Here is a recipe that is very popular in American cuisine, but many recipes add so much “stuff” that the flavor of the eggplant is hidden. (Maybe this is done on purpose for those who dislike eggplant, but love Italian cooking?) In any event, I cook my eggplant with the philosophy that less is more. Don’t get me wrong, to make a good parmigiana, you need many ingredients and a lot of time. But it is oh-so-worth it!!! Buon appetito
Eggplant Parmigiana – Serves four
Ingredients:
1 big eggplant
6 plum tomatoes
1 fresh mozzarella 4oz
extra virgin oil
1 garlic clove
1 cup parmesan cheese
Spices: I used chili pepper basil and a hint of mint, if you like you can use also oregano.
Salt: I use the salt only when i cover the slices.
First, wash the eggplant, slice it into edible pieces and cover each slice with salt layering them on a dish or in a colander. What you want to do now is to press out the water from the eggplants, so put a second dish over it with something heavy pressing down. Keep the eggplant like this for about one hour, moving the layers every twenty minutes. This is a crucial step because it takes away the bitter taste from the eggplant and thus leaving a succulent eggplant. In the meantime prepare the tomato sauce. First peel the tomatoes in hot water, then with oil, garlic and the spices prepare a tomato sauce.
Take the eggplant slices and fry them in the oil. There should a thin layer of oil, not enough to cover the slices. The color of the eggplant should become like the one in the picture.
Oil the baking dish and then in layers put the fried eggplant, mozzarella and tomato sauce. Finish the top with grated parmesan cheese. This will make a crunchy crust on the top.
Cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
As the eggplant absorbs the salt while extracting the liquid, this is the only time i use the salt in the recipe. Mangia!
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March 25th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Your eggplant looks delicious. I will surely try it. By the way, I was once told that in America the smaller eggplants are more flavorful. The same person told me that if I wanted to choose eggplants with fewer seeds, I should look for ones that did NOT have a dimple at the blossom end because these were “male” eggplants. The ones with a dimple or indentation at the bottom were “female” eggplants and had more abundant seeds. What do you think? Has anyone else out there heard a similar tale about eggplants or any other fruit?
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January 24th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Thank You i will have a look to your site. Tommaso
May 24th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Why do people use less of the egg plant in their cooking? I like it more. It is more than an Italian recipe. All over the West and even in Mexico, they are popular. In Mexico there is a tasty Mexican eggplant casserole made with chilies and olives.Very similar to your recipe. We do have a more veggie version of yours too where my associate puts more tomatoes (chopped).You have 6 plum tomatoes but we add more so the tasty becomes chewy.