Aubergine Parmigiana or La Parmigiana Melanzane originates from the beautiful coastal province of Puglia, set in the heel of Italy. It’s a great way to serve up aubergines, layering them with tomato and cheese, almost like the classic lasagne, minus the pasta.
Serve with fresh garlic bread and a rocket salad. Perfect accompanied with a classic northern Italian red wine, such as Villa Casetta – Barbera d’Alba. Divino!
A delicious, warming aubergine dish layered with cheese and tomato
Ingredients
olive oil
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes, or 500g of fresh ripe tomatoes
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 leaves of shredded basil
2 medium aubergines
1 ball Buffalo Mozzarella, sliced
Splash of wine vinegar
Handful of Parmesan cheese
Handful of dried breadcrumbs
Pinch of dried oregano
Salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
Heat the oven to 180ºC.
If you use fresh tomatoes, which will be sweeter if they are in season, you first need to de-skin them. Prick the skins and put them in a pan of boiling water for 40-50 seconds. Spoon them out and drop them into a bowl of cold water. Leave for 30 seconds, then remove their skins. Cut up the flesh, removing the seeds.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan. Add the garlic, onion and dried oregano and gently cook for 7-8 minutes until the onion is soft and the garlic turns a golden brown.
Add the tomatoes and cinnamon and simmer for around 15 minutes until you have a thickened sauce. Season with the basil, wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Remove the cinnamon stick.
Whilst the tomato sauce is simmering, slice the aubergines lengthways about 1cm thick. Brush both sides with oil and a little salt. Pan fry or chargrill, turning a few times until tender. It's important to get the aubergine as tender as possible, so give it time, but don’t burn them! Put them to one side.
Now take an ovenproof dish and spoon a layer of the sauce in the bottom of the dish, cover with aubergine and then the Mozzarella. Repeat 3 or 4 times and finish with a thin layer of tomato sauce.
Sprinkle with Parmesan and breadcrumbs and bake for 30-40 minutes until the dish is bubbling and the Parmesan and breadcrumbs are golden brown.
Buon' giorno! Welcome to my Italian food blog.
I am Italian, and proud of it! Italy has so much going for it: with one foot quite literally in the beautiful Mediterranean, my
country’s climate and location give us an amazing cornucopia of ingredients, which is why our culture is steeped in a hearty
romantic culinary tradition. My wife and I love our food, so all my recipes are designed for two. If you're cooking for an average
sized modern family - perhaps not the traditional extended Italian family - just double the quantities.
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