Traditional Eggplant Parmesan

From one of my favorite all-time cookbooks

We live in a split house house. One part vegetarian and one part try-atarian. Meaning I will try anything. The only thing I have ever come across that I did not like was tripe. I blame Rocket Power.

One of my wife’s favorite cuisines is Italian. She adores the pizza (her favorite food), the pasta, the desserts… just about anything Italian she loves. When she went vegetarian, it was hard to find good Italian vegetarian recipes. We thought she would have to forgo the variety and deliciousness that Italian cuisine offers.

One day that all changed.

We were at Skylark Books in Columbia, MO (where she was attending law school) and stumbled upon “Vegetariano: 400 Regional Italian Recipes.” It was filled with mouthwatering vegetarian recipes. It was compiled and published by the Slow Food Editore the publishing arm of Slow Food.

“Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.”

Slow Food traveled around Italy compiling this book from famous restaurants, Nona’s kitchens, small cafes and everything in between.

Photo Source

Over the last year, I’ve been working my way through this cookbook and I’ve barely scratched the surface. It’s filled with delicious, rich and simple dishes. Most of the serving sizes are massive. This dish says it serves 4-6. I used a large casserole dish to bake it it.

Recently, I made the Eggplant Parmesan (or Parmigiana di Melanzane as it’s titled in the cookbook.) It was pretty dang good.

Let’s make it!

Parmigiana di Melanzane / Eggplant Parmigiana with Tomato Sauce

From: Osteria Nunzia, Benevento, Campania

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 lb Eggplant (2-3 medium sized ones)

• Salt to taste

• 1 Medium Yellow Onion, minced

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil for sautéing & frying

• 2 large cans Whole Tomatoes

• All-Purpose Flour for dredging

• 6 Eggs, lightly beaten

• 8-10 Basil Leaves

• 1 1/2 lb Mozzarella, diced

• 1/2 cup Parmesan Reggiano

Let’s Make It!

1. Prep & Sweat Eggplant
   Cut eggplant longwise into 1/4 inch thickness. Salt slices and place in a colander to sweat & drain (roughly 30-45 minutes). The salt pulls out some of the moisture in the eggplant.

2. Get the Sauce Ready
   While eggplant is sweating, it’s time to make the sauce. In a pot, heat up a some oil. Once oil is warm, saute the onion for 5-7 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook on low for 30-45 minutes.

3. Dredge & Fry the Eggplant
   While Tomato sauce is cooking, it’s time to fry the eggplant. First, in a large pan heat up a generous amount of olive oil. Bread the eggplant in the following steps: First, dredge the eggplant in flour then dip in egg. Next, place it in frying pan to cook. Once eggplant is a golden color, place on a paper towel lined baking tray to cool.
   Repeat until all eggplant is fried and ready. Keep your leftover egg.

4. Layer the Eggplant Parm
   Preheat oven to 350F.
   Remove sauce from heat.
   In a large casserole dish, layer:
   1. Sauce + torn basil leaves
   2. Eggplant
   3. Mozzarella cubes
   4. Parmesan
   Make sure eggplant is overlapping a tad. Repeat until all eggplant is used (or you run out of space in the pan.)

5. Top it Off
   Top off the eggplant parm with any left over sauce, egg, basil and cheese. It feels weird to put egg on top, but I trusted the process and now I”m asking you to trust me. It tastes delicious.

6. Time to Bake
   Place Eggplant Parmesan in the oven. I placed an extra baking sheet underneath mine. It has a chance of bubbling over.
   Bake for 30-40 minutes.

7. Time to Eat!
   Once it’s done, allow to cool. According to the book, parmigiana should “only be eaten completely cooled or at room temp”. I say you do what you want. This dish is delicious cold or hot.