Eggplant Parmesan is a southern Italian dish made with eggplants, tomato sauce, basil, and mozzarella. For me, it’s really the dish of summer since it tastes great even when lukewarm. It’s not exactly a light dish; in fact, some people, to make it more “light,” prepare the eggplants grilled or baked, but the true recipe calls for them to be fried.
Recipe from 09/19/2016 updated
Other eggplant-based recipes by clicking the links below
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Electric Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
- Energy 635.72 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 18.29 (g) of which sugars 11.61 (g)
- Proteins 14.58 (g)
- Fat 58.39 (g) of which saturated 19.12 (g)of which unsaturated 28.56 (g)
- Fibers 9.22 (g)
- Sodium 631.95 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 278 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs eggplants
- 8.8 oz buffalo mozzarella
- 1 bunch basil
- 1.76 oz Parmigiano Reggiano DOP
- 21.16 oz peeled tomatoes
- 1 Tropea red onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1.35 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 0.11 oz fine salt
- 2.5 cups peanut oil
Tools
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- Food Scale
- Cutting Board
- Frying Pan
- Pot
- Baking Pan
- Absorbent Paper
- Immersion Blender
Steps
Prepare the tomato sauce first by sautéing a chopped Tropea onion with a garlic clove in oil. Pour in the blended peeled tomatoes, season with salt, and let it cook for 30 minutes. Once it cools down, add some fresh basil leaves and remove the garlic.
Meanwhile, wash the eggplants and slice them into 1/8 inch slices. If the eggplants are at the right stage, it’s not necessary to remove the bitter liquid by salting them, just dry them between two sheets of absorbent paper before frying them in hot oil.
Gradually drain and place them on sheets of absorbent paper. Cut the mozzarella into pieces and let it drain from its milk in a strainer. In the baking pan that will go in the oven (7×10 inches), make layers of sauce, eggplants, mozzarella, and parmesan. Bake in a preheated static oven at 392 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Once cooked, let them rest for 30 minutes so that they firm up well.
