Are you looking for a healthy and easy to make week night dinner? This is it. Parmigiana di melanzane is full of flavor and it is meat free! Perfect for meat-free Mondays!
What is parmigiana di melanzane (EGGPLANT PARMESAN)?
Parmigiana di melanzane or melanzane alla parmigiana, is an Italian dish made with fried, sliced eggplant layered with plenty cheese and tomato sauce, then baked to perfection. The origin of the dish is claimed by both the Southern regions of Campania and Sicily.
Eggplant has a slight bitter taste but fried in oil or liquid it absorbs all the flavors and becomes super tasty.
A pro tip is to salt you eggplant before using it. Salting eggplant slices can help to tame the bitter flavor. Some claim that it doesn’t really pull out the bitterness, but just masks the flavor and not making it is less bitter. Either way, sprinkling a decent amount of salt on your eggplant slices does seem to lessen the bitterness and also draws out a little of the moisture from the eggplant.
This dish is hearty and a great replacement for meat. And did I mention that eggplants are full of rich nutrients. Plus they are high in antioxidants. A prefect reason to make this dish! 😉
PARMIGIANA DI MELANZANE
Ingredients
2 Large or 3 medium aubergines (Eggplant)
Salt for sprinkling
1 Onion, chopped
5 ml Garlic, crushed
700g pureed tomatoes
10ml Basil, dried
5ml Sugar
250g mozzarella cheese, cut into small blocks
70g Parmesan cheese, grated
Olive oil for frying
Flour for dusting
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions
Thinly slice the aubergines / eggplant into thin slices. Sprinkle a decent amount of salt on your eggplant slices and set aside for an hour.
Meanwhile make the tomato sauce.
Heat a little olive oil in a sauce pan, add the onion and slowly fry until translucent and soft. Make sure not to brown them. Now add the garlic and keep stirring for a minute. Add the pureed tomatoes, basil & sugar and allow the tomato sauce to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Rinse the aubergines / eggplant under cold water and pat them dry with paper towels. Add some flour in a dinner plate. Now lightly dust the eggplants with the flour, make sure to shake off any excess flour. Fry them in batches in a little bit of olive oil. Fry only for a minute on each side. Carefully remove from the pan and place them on a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
Heat the oven to 180˚C and grease a deep oven proof glass bowl. I used a 20 cm Pyrex bowl.
Place one spoon of the tomato sauce at the bottom on the bowl. Spreading evenly. Pack a layer of eggplant followed by a couple of spoons of sauce, parmesan cheese followed by a few blocks of mozzarella cheese. Continue layering until you have one layer left.
For the final layer, spoon the remaining sauces on top now add parmesan cheese and cubed mozzarella cheese. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until slightly golden on top.
Allow the Melanzane to rest for 5 minutes & serve.
Enjoy!
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