Eggplant parmigiana with grilled eggplant
Print
Eggplant parmigiana (parmigiana di melanzane)
This Italian classic takes a little time (grilling all that eggplant is a labor of love), but your guests will tell you it was worth every minute. Our version grills the eggplant instead of frying it, so it’s lighter than most.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Salting the eggplant: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Gluten-Free, Low-Carb, Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 2 large eggplants
- Salt
- Olive oil, for brushing and for the sauce
- 1 kg (2¼ lb) ripe tomatoes, or good canned crushed tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
- 200 g (7 oz) mozzarella, torn into small pieces
- 60 g (2 oz) Parmesan, freshly grated
- A sprig of basil, leaves only
Instructions
- Slice the eggplants lengthwise into thin slices, about 2 mm (1/16 in).
- Sprinkle them lightly with salt and leave them between two kitchen towels for an hour, weighed down with a few plates, so any bitter juices seep out.
- Brush the slices with olive oil and grill them for 10–15 minutes, until golden brown. Set aside. You’ll need to work in several batches, so this takes a while!
- If using fresh tomatoes, plunge them into a pan of just-boiled water (with the heat off) for a couple of minutes, then slip off the skins.
- Chop the tomatoes into small pieces.
- Make the sauce: fry the garlic in a little oil, add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Then either press the garlic back into the sauce with a garlic press, or discard it.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- In an ovenproof dish, layer the eggplant slices and tomato sauce, adding the cheeses on the last layer and on top.
- Bake for 10–15 minutes, until the cheese on top is golden brown. Scatter the torn basil leaves over the top 5 minutes before the end.
Notes
Short on time? You can skip step 2: modern eggplant varieties are hardly bitter. If you do, remember to salt the eggplant as you grill it.
I grilled the eggplant on the bbq. 2mm thick slices take about 1-2 min per side. This was delicious.
5 stars (can’t get the stars to stay highlighted)