Eggplant Parmigiana (Parmigiana di Melanzane)
Parmigiana di Melanzane is the ultimate Complete Comfort Food recipe. Fried aubergines/eggplant baked in a dish with tomato sauce, basil, parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Thinly slice the eggplant/aubergines; place them in a colander.
- Sprinkle slices lightly with salt; set aside for 1 hour; this drains off any excess water and helps with frying.
- Meanwhile, make the simple tomato sauce.
- Finely chop 1 onion and sauté in a pan, with the olive oil, until translucent and soft but not browned.
- Add the tomatoes and a small bunch of basil which you tear with your hands.
- Add a pinch of salt and pepper; stir and simmer gently for 10 to15 minutes; remove from heat; set aside.
- Rinse the eggplant slices under cold water and pat them dry with a kitchen towel or paper.
- Lightly dust them with flour, shaking off any excess; fry in sunflower oil for a few seconds on each side; drain on paper towels to remove any excess oil.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
- Spoon a small amount of tomato sauce into the bottom an 11-inch x 8-inch (or similar size) baking dish and spread it around; this will stop the eggplant from sticking.
- Next, add one layer of eggplant to the dish followed by a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, cubes of mozzarella, a sprinkling of pepper and couple spoons of tomato sauce; save ⅓ of the sauce for the final layer.
- Continue with the next layer until you have one top layer left.
- For the top layer, spoon over the remaining tomato sauce and top with parmesan and mozzarella.
- Cover loosely with foil, place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, remove the foil, place back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes until nice and golden and bubbling on top.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Always salt the eggplant before making this dish.
Traditional eggplant parmigiana does not have breadcrumbs, flour is all you need.
Cut the eggplant around ¼-inch thick (don't worry about being accurate just keep it thinly cut).
Once you've dusted a batch of eggplant in flour, fry them straight away or the eggplant will soak up the flour and it can turn mushy.
Use the highest quality pureed tomatoes for best results (low-quality tomatoes can ruin the whole dish).
You can prep this whole dish in advance and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake it.
Leftovers will store well in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days and can be re-heated in the oven, covered, until piping hot all the way through. You can also eat leftovers cold with a salad.