“Melanzane Alla Parmigiana” is a traditional Italian dish that not only delights vegetarians. Even inexperienced cooks can cope well with the preparation. Although the name suggests, the recipe does not come from Parma but from southern Italy.
Ingredients for 4 persons
- 1 kg of eggplants
- 800g fresh, ripe tomatoes (or tinned tomatoes)
- 200g mozzarella (buffalo mozzarella tastes best)
- 100g grated Parmesan
- some leaves of fresh basil
- 1 onion whole
- salt, pepper, olive oil
Preparation of the eggplant casserole
- Wash the aubergines, remove the stems, and cut them into slices about 1 cm thick. The slices are then placed on kitchen paper and salted.
- In a pan, heat plenty of olive oil and fry the aubergine slices in portions on both sides until they turn golden. Then you put them in a large sieve to drain them, so they lose their bitter note and the excess oil.
- In the meantime, a thick tomato sauce is prepared: the tomatoes are washed, cut into small cubes, and simmered in a saucepan with a little olive oil and a whole peeled onion over low heat for about 20 minutes. To season, add salt and pepper to taste. When the sauce has thickened, remove all of the onion and remove the sauce from the heat.
- In a large casserole dish, alternately layer the eggplant slices (do not overlap), grated Parmesan, a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce, and fresh basil (hand-picked into small pieces), and thinly sliced mozzarella. Repeat this step until all ingredients are used up. The last layer should be the tomato sauce with grated parmesan.
- The aubergines are finally baked in the oven at 200°C for about 40 minutes until the tomato sauce shows a light crust.
- The casserole tastes both hot and cold. Serve with fresh white bread and a glass of good Italian red wine!
Tips and variants for the aubergine casserole
- In Naples, there are the gratinated aubergines with boiled eggs, peas, and diced ham (just add layers to the casserole dish)
- You can also use Italian pecorino cheese instead of Parmesan cheese
- For a lower-calorie version, instead of frying the aubergines, grill them or bake them in the oven before layering them in the casserole dish.
- For meat lovers, you can prepare a minced meat stew, then the recipe is a bit similar to the Greek moussaka.
Preparation time: 30 minutes prep time and 40-50 minutes baking time
