PARMIGIANA DI MELANZANE
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Main, Vegetarian, Light Meals, Comfort Food, Lunch
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients
  • 1,5 kg aubergine/eggplant (3 pounds)
  • 1200 gr chopped or plum tomatoes (whizzed up)
  • 2x125 gr fresh mozzarella
  • 100 gr grated parmesan
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1-2 Tbs olive oil
  • a handful of fresh basil leaves
  • salt and pepper
  • oil for frying
Instructions
  1. Slice the aubergines about 1 cm thick and place in a colander sprinkling each one with a good pinch of salt. Leave for an hour.
  2. Heat a Tbs or two of olive oil in a sauce pan and fry the garlic a little. Pour in the pureed tomato, add a handful of torn basil leaves and cook for 30-40 minutes on a med high heat. It might take a little longer depending on how watery your tomatoes are, what we are looking for is a thick and quite a concentrated sauce. Season to taste being careful with the salt as the aubergines do absorb a little salt too.
  3. Rinse the aubergine slices and lightly squeeze the excess water then place on a kitchen towel to dry a little.
  4. Heat about an inch of oil in a frying pan. Fry the aubergines without crowding the pan too much as it would lower the temperature of the oil. Once they have a nice golden colour place on paper towel.
  5. Cut the mozzarella into thin slices.
  6. Spread a few Tbs of tomato sauce onto the bottom of your baking dish.
  7. Arrange a layer of fried aubergines slightly overlapping each other.
  8. Cover the aubergines generously with a few Tbs of tomato sauce, mozzarella slices and a Tbs of grated parmesan. Repeat in the same order until you run out of aubergines, minimum three layers.
  9. Top the last layer of aubergines with tomato sauce and plenty of parmesan.
  10. Bake in a preheated oven (180 C) for 30-40 minutes until the cheese becomes golden and forms a crust on top.
  11. Let cool for at least two hours before serving.
Notes
You can grill the aubergines instead of frying for a lighter version but it's a tad yummier when fried :):)

It's best served slightly warm or at room temperature, tastes even better the day after.
Recipe by HatiBon English at https://www.hatibon.com/blog/2016/08/parmigiana-di-melanzane/