Wonderful summer recipe from Italy, my insights for you!
Parmigiana di Melanzane ! Veggie Lasagne !
Ciao tutti,
it is time again to share a recipe with you. Im in love with Italian food and this is one of my many favorites.
Most of the time you find that dish under the name "Parmigiana di Melanzane". I would call it the ultimate veggie lasagne. The main part of this dish is called "Melanzane" in Italian, or eggplant, it is a Southern Italian recipe as far as I could check on the culinary history.
The culinary history says that the eggplant reached Southern Italy by the 9th century CE. Arabs brought the fruits along and thanks to the fearless foodies in the Calabrian and Sicilian regions of Italy the Italians loved to cook and also planted this funny egg-shaped product.
Random Information. Eggplants were also used as Medicine fighting asthma and dental issues.
Random Information. Eggplants were also used as Medicine fighting asthma and dental issues.
Enough about the history lets get started !
Ok, here is the deal. It might take you some more time of preperation but a happy outcome is worth waiting for, right?
Ingridients for 2 persons:
Preheat your oven about 180 Degrees. And prepare a baking dish (I place a little bit of olive oil in the baking form to make sure nothing sticks on it).
Lets start to get the eggplants prepared. There are more ways to prepare them, for me this works the best. Slice the eggplants in thin pieces. Salt the eggplant slices from every side and put them all together in a bowl and place something heavy above the slices. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes you can check and see that the eggplants have lost their water.
If so you can take the slices out of its own water and make sure (really important) to get rid of the salt. Best way to get rid of the saltiness is to put every slice shortly under running water and tab right after every slice after doing so.
This was the part that take the longest, but as said - you wont regret the prep work when tasting this ultimate yummy Italian dish.
Meanwhile while the eggplant is resting you can prepare the sauce.
Put some olive oil in a cooking pot and roast the garlic and the onions quick - make sure not to heat it up too quick as garlic gets burned really fast.
Ok, here is the deal. It might take you some more time of preperation but a happy outcome is worth waiting for, right?
Ingridients for 2 persons:
2 eggplants
500 g Tomatoes
1-2 table spoons olive oil
1/2 handful of basil
150 g parmesan cheese
2 mozzarella cheese
1 small onion
1 1/2 garlic (as you like)
Preheat your oven about 180 Degrees. And prepare a baking dish (I place a little bit of olive oil in the baking form to make sure nothing sticks on it).
Lets start to get the eggplants prepared. There are more ways to prepare them, for me this works the best. Slice the eggplants in thin pieces. Salt the eggplant slices from every side and put them all together in a bowl and place something heavy above the slices. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes you can check and see that the eggplants have lost their water.
If so you can take the slices out of its own water and make sure (really important) to get rid of the salt. Best way to get rid of the saltiness is to put every slice shortly under running water and tab right after every slice after doing so.
This was the part that take the longest, but as said - you wont regret the prep work when tasting this ultimate yummy Italian dish.
Meanwhile while the eggplant is resting you can prepare the sauce.
Put some olive oil in a cooking pot and roast the garlic and the onions quick - make sure not to heat it up too quick as garlic gets burned really fast.
After that add the tomatoes into the cooking pot and stire everything. You can add some pepper and salt depending on your choice, also a bit of red wine is possible. Make sure if you add wine to heat it up a bit so the alcohol gets cooked away and it doesnt taste intense red wine. Add the basil at the end and let it cook at lower heat for about 15 minutes.
While the tomatoe sauce is cooking you place in a pan only a sprinkle of olive oil and place the eggplant slices in it. Make sure not to put too much olive oil as the eggplants are tending to suck up the oil too much. Sear the eggplant slices from each side for about 4-5 minutes (medium heat) till they get a nice tan on each side. Put the slices on a plate when finsihed.
When your sauce and eggplants are ready start to layer the ingridients in the baking form.
Start with some tomatoe sauce at the Bottom and put layer above the eggplant slices and Mozzarella cheese slices above.
Finsihing with parmesan the casserole.
Place the casserole for about 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven (180 degrees). Right after putting it out of the oven let the casserole rest for about 15 minutes. You can serve it warm or even cold. Perfect match for the "Parmigana Melanzane" is red wine and some nice baguette.
ENJOY !
