eggplant parmagiana Recipe

  Italian Vegetable

Ingredients:
1-2 large eggplants
salt
olive oil
1x440g tin tomatoes
basil leaves
1 onion
slices of swiss or mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Slice the eggplants into 1.5 cm thick slices, lay out on absorbant kitchen paper, sprinkle liberally with salt, leave 15 minutes to leach out bitterness, then turn over and repeat with other side.

Meanwhile chop the onion finely, saute in a little olive oil, add basil and chopped tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and reduce to a reasonably thick sauce.

When the bitterness has leached out of the eggplant, rinse the salt off, pat dry and fry gently in olive oil. The eggplant will absorb a lot of oil, and will burn if you don't keep adding more.

When all the eggplant has been fried to a fairly soft consistency, lay the slices on a baking tray, spread with tomato sauce and slices of cheese.
Bake in a 180C oven for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and just starting to go golden brown.
Serve with a green salad
I have had this dish in a number of Italian restaurants and loved it because it is so tasty. I went home and worked out how to do it myself. I don't see why you couldn't rinse the salt off the eggplant slices and coat them with beaten egg and breadcrumbs before you fry them.

eggplant parmagiana
 

Copyright © 2007 Epicurean.com
All rights reserved