Sunday Flavors

GRILLED EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

Parmigiana or Eggplant Parmigiana (in Italian: Melanzane alla Parmigiana or Parmigiana di Melanzane) is a Italian traditional recipe made with fried or grilled eggplant slices or stripes, layered with tomato sauce and cheese, then baked. Although the puritans mention fried eggplant as the correct ingredient, there are plenty of recipes suggesting to grill it, resulting in a much more healthy option. You can use courgette instead of eggplant, meaning that the original recipe can be changed according to your taste. Parmigiana, like I show you here, is a vegetarian combination, ideal to serve as a complete meal or simply as an antipasto or side dish. After baked, if you don’t devour it all at once, you can keep the remaining Parmigiana in the refrigerator for several days. It works very well to arrive home and calm down your or your children nervous system, believe me.

YOU WILL NEED (serves 4 to 6):
3 to 4 large and firm purple eggplants;
Salt and pepper;
Extra virgin olive oil;
1 yellow onion, diced;
3 garlic cloves, diced;
1 bay leaf;
750 gr / 1 lb and 10 ½ oz of fresh ripe skinless tomatoes, diced (you can use good quality canned tomatoes);
2 tablespoons of tomato paste;
1 tablespoon of oregano;
Drizzle of white wine;
Fresh basil leaves or parsley, coarsely chopped;
200 gr / 7 ¼ oz of freshly grated Mozzarella cheese;
200 gr / 7 ¼ oz of freshly grated Parmesan cheese;

METHOD:
Cut eggplants in round slices or lengthwise, around 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick;
Brush eggplant pieces on both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper;
Take it to a preheated oven in a baking tray or grill it until soft and light brown. Reserve;
In a saucepan, heat olive oil and add, by this order, onion, garlic, bay leaf, tomato, tomato paste, oregano, a drizzle of white wine and season with salt. Let it cook for around 30 minutes in medium to low heat until reduced. I like to use the sauce chunky but you can purée it;
Add fresh basil leaves or parsley, coarsely chopped, and stir gently;
Preheat your over to 180ºC/ 350ºF;
In a greased deep oven dish, alternate layers of grilled eggplant, tomato sauce and grated Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers (3 to 4 layers) and top with an extra generous dusting of Parmesan and dried oregano;
Bake in the hot oven for 15 minutes to melt cheese and get the Parmigiana crisp and bubbly;
Allow it to cool for 10 minutes and cut into squares to serve.