Calm down, because we are not going to do what the Anglo-Saxons call over promise: eggplant parmesan -melanzane alla parmigiana if you go for Italian- they are a forceful dish. But that doesn’t mean they should be one of those oily bricks that drop like an H-bomb in your stomach and don’t leave for six hours. This first world drama is easily avoidable by following a few small rules, which not only lighten the plate but also improve it.
As the Italian gastronome says Anna Mayer, achieving a good parmigiana is a matter of balance. Don’t go overboard with the sauce or cheese, and avoid overfilling the dish with fat so that it doesn’t turn out cloying. We have based in your recipe, but we’ve incorporated a few homegrown additions to make preparation even quicker and easier. It’s all in the video above.
Ingredients
- 3 large eggplants
- 1.1kg of passat or crushed tomato
- 1 bunch of fresh basil
- 2 mozzarellas, thinly sliced
- 150g parmesan or grana padano
- Butter
- Olive oil
- salt and black pepper
Preparation
- Cut the aubergines into slices about half a centimeter thick.
- Put them in a microwaveable case or in a deep plate covered with another flat one. Salt them and cook them at maximum power in the microwave for three or four minutes. If you don’t have a microwave, put them in a colander in layers, adding plenty of coarse salt between layers. Cover with a plate, put something heavy on top, let stand for half an hour to an hour and rinse to remove excess salt.
- For the tomato sauce, put in a saucepan the passat over medium heat with some basil leaves, salt and pepper, without oil. You can use crushed tomato, but then you will have to cook it a little longer. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally.
- If the salt method has been used, rinse and dry the aubergines.
- Put plenty of olive oil in a frying pan and, when it is very hot, fry the aubergine slices in batches until golden brown but tender, not crisp. As they fry, put them in a colander or on kitchen paper to drain.
- To assemble the Parmesan, spread the bottom of a baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Put a first layer of aubergines and sprinkle with Parmesan. Add the mozzarella cut into thin slices and some fresh basil leaves. Repeat with tomato, eggplant, Parmesan, mozzarella and basil.
- On the last layer, put only aubergines, generously sprinkled Parmesan and a few nuts of butter for better browning.
- Bake at 180 degrees about 20 minutes. If you want more gold, raise it to the top of the oven and gratin with the grill at 220 degrees for about five minutes. It can be eaten hot, warm or even cold.
If you make this recipe, share the result on your social networks with the hashtag #RecipesComidista. And if it goes wrong, complain to the Cook Ombudsman by sending an email to [email protected].
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