The savory made with puff pastry is always a dinner-saver, but not only that: with puff pastry you can make a thousand appetizers and tasty dishes that everyone always likes, so keeping a roll of puff pastry in the fridge can always be useful. A pairing I love is puff pastry and eggplant, so a few days ago I prepared this delicious savory pie with puff pastry and eggplant, a wonderful spring and summer savory and a great dish both as an appetizer and as a quick dinner-saver. A indulgent recipe that I have proudly added to my collection of Tasty recipes with eggplant and that I invite you to browse if, like me, you go crazy for eggplants.

If you also have puff pastry and eggplants in the fridge, you just need to add a melting cheese such as provola or caciotta, and you’ll have the right ingredients to make this quick and delicious savory pie, perfect even as a quick Easter appetizer or for spring picnics. If you’d like more suggestions, I recommend checking the recipe for Puff pastry parcels with eggplant, which are wonderful, and the recipe for Covered savory with eggplant, tomato and cheese.

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Budget-friendly
Rest time: 5 Minutes
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

1 roll puff pastry
1 eggplant
1 onion
1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
as needed extra virgin olive oil
1 oz cheese (grated, such as Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano)
as needed salt
6 oz cheese (caciotta or provola)
as needed sesame seeds
as needed egg (beaten for finishing)

Tools

1 Baking tray
Oven
1 Frying pan
1 Bowl

Steps

Peel the eggplant and cut it into very small cubes. Put them in a bowl, add a little salt, mix and set aside. Chop the onion and sauté it in a good splash of oil.
Take the cubed eggplants and squeeze them with your hands or with a kitchen towel.
But do you know why eggplants are sprinkled with salt? In the past eggplants were more bitter; by salting them and letting them rest they released their vegetable water and lost some of that bitter aftertaste. Nowadays eggplants are not as bitter, but by releasing the vegetable water they become meatier and less soggy when cooked, and if fried they gain a delicious golden crunchy crust.
Back to our dish: add the eggplant to the onion and let them sauté for about 20 minutes or until they are flavorful, soft and golden.
Set aside and let cool completely.
Unroll the puff pastry with the long side facing you and spread the eggplant over half of it, lengthwise. Add a little grated cheese, a sprinkle of breadcrumbs and the sliced cheese — you can choose provola, caciotta or any melting stretched-curd cheese (for example, wax-coated cheese) or even a pizza mozzarella.
Fold the free part of the pastry over the filling, seal the edges by folding them inward, brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake in a preheated convection oven at 392°F for 20-25 minutes or until golden to your liking.
Remove from the oven, let cool slightly and serve still hot and melty or at room temperature.
If you liked this recipe, also check out:
–Puff pastry with eggplant, ham and mozzarella;
–Meatloaf in a crust with fried eggplants;
–Risotto in a puff pastry crust;
–Savory pie alla parmigiana with fried eggplants;
–Covered pizza with eggplants;
–Puff pastry with grilled eggplants, tomato and mozzarella.