Hi everyone:
I want to share my all-time favorite recipe for Egplant Parmesan. It comes from one of my oldest and most favorite Italian cookbooks, "We Called it Macaroni", by Nancy Verde Barr*. She grew up on 'the Hill' in Providence, RI, and learned all she knows from her butcher Grandpa and her Nonna, whose recipe this is. It is delicate, without all the sogginess of breading. There's just enough sauce, cheese, etc. to make it, in her word, 'sublime' and I absolutely agree. My grown kids all agreed that they like eggplant for the first time!!
I ALWAYS DOUBLE THIS RECIPE!!!
In Italian: Parmigiana de Melanzane
1 med. (1-14 lb. approx.) eggplant
Salt and Pepper
4 large eggs (I used only 3)
Olive Oil for frying
1-1/2 cups tomato sauce (recipe follows)
2 Tblspn good Parm. Reggiano (or Pecorino Romano)
1. Peel eggplant and cut into thinnest possible slices. (I peel, then cut a small slice off the bottom, and stand it up to slice down with a very sharp slicer, as thinly as I can) Place in a colander and sprinkle with salt between layers. Let sit for about an hour then dry with paper towels and squeeze gently to remove as much liquid as you can.
2. Beat eggs, salt and pepper together in a pie pan. Pour a little oil 1/4' or so, into a flat-bottomed 12" frying pan and heat to 375o, or very hot. Start dipping a few slices into the egg mixture, then into the oil, Cook just a few seconds on each side, and turn; cook until slightly golden. Remove carefully to a paper-towel lined cookie sheet, and repeat until all the eggplant is cooked.
3. Layer the eggplant and tomato sauce into an ovenproof shallow pan or dish. Sprinkle on cheese and bake @400o for 10 minutes or till bubbly. Serve hot or @ room temp.
Tomato Sauce (It doesn't get more simple than this; can't understand why anyone would buy it in a grocery)
1/4 C. EVOO; 2 garlic cloves (peeled and minced); 4-1/2 c. peeled, seeded fresh, or canned Italian plum tomatoes; finely chopped, or whirred in a blender or food processor (I use a 35oz. can of Italian imported, preferably San Marzano tomatoes, and crush them with my hand); salt and pepper, 2 Tblspns snipped fresh basil or other herb
Heat oil and garlic gently in a pot large enough to hold the sauce, until golden, but be careful not to brown too much. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper, cook gently for 30 minutes. Stir in basil and cook 2 more minutes.
*If you are fascinated by all things Italian, especially their food & cooking, as I am, the book mentioned above is a treasure, as she interviews the children/grandchildren of immigrants who tell the stories of how it was when they were young and how their immigrant parents managed to keep their food traditins, even though they had to start from scratch...a really fun book to read. Amazing people, those early Italian immigrants. It transports you to another time, wonderfully...
I want to share my all-time favorite recipe for Egplant Parmesan. It comes from one of my oldest and most favorite Italian cookbooks, "We Called it Macaroni", by Nancy Verde Barr*. She grew up on 'the Hill' in Providence, RI, and learned all she knows from her butcher Grandpa and her Nonna, whose recipe this is. It is delicate, without all the sogginess of breading. There's just enough sauce, cheese, etc. to make it, in her word, 'sublime' and I absolutely agree. My grown kids all agreed that they like eggplant for the first time!!
I ALWAYS DOUBLE THIS RECIPE!!!
In Italian: Parmigiana de Melanzane
1 med. (1-14 lb. approx.) eggplant
Salt and Pepper
4 large eggs (I used only 3)
Olive Oil for frying
1-1/2 cups tomato sauce (recipe follows)
2 Tblspn good Parm. Reggiano (or Pecorino Romano)
1. Peel eggplant and cut into thinnest possible slices. (I peel, then cut a small slice off the bottom, and stand it up to slice down with a very sharp slicer, as thinly as I can) Place in a colander and sprinkle with salt between layers. Let sit for about an hour then dry with paper towels and squeeze gently to remove as much liquid as you can.
2. Beat eggs, salt and pepper together in a pie pan. Pour a little oil 1/4' or so, into a flat-bottomed 12" frying pan and heat to 375o, or very hot. Start dipping a few slices into the egg mixture, then into the oil, Cook just a few seconds on each side, and turn; cook until slightly golden. Remove carefully to a paper-towel lined cookie sheet, and repeat until all the eggplant is cooked.
3. Layer the eggplant and tomato sauce into an ovenproof shallow pan or dish. Sprinkle on cheese and bake @400o for 10 minutes or till bubbly. Serve hot or @ room temp.
Tomato Sauce (It doesn't get more simple than this; can't understand why anyone would buy it in a grocery)
1/4 C. EVOO; 2 garlic cloves (peeled and minced); 4-1/2 c. peeled, seeded fresh, or canned Italian plum tomatoes; finely chopped, or whirred in a blender or food processor (I use a 35oz. can of Italian imported, preferably San Marzano tomatoes, and crush them with my hand); salt and pepper, 2 Tblspns snipped fresh basil or other herb
Heat oil and garlic gently in a pot large enough to hold the sauce, until golden, but be careful not to brown too much. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper, cook gently for 30 minutes. Stir in basil and cook 2 more minutes.
*If you are fascinated by all things Italian, especially their food & cooking, as I am, the book mentioned above is a treasure, as she interviews the children/grandchildren of immigrants who tell the stories of how it was when they were young and how their immigrant parents managed to keep their food traditins, even though they had to start from scratch...a really fun book to read. Amazing people, those early Italian immigrants. It transports you to another time, wonderfully...
Comments