Stuffed Eggplants or ‘mbuttunate are typical stuffed eggplants from many southern Italian regions, especially Sicily and Salento, and they vary from one to the other for the filling, for example in Sicily they use small round eggplants that are not yet fully developed.
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A dish rich in flavor that thanks to the double cooking will bring the scents and colors of summer in one dish.
With the sauce that will be left over (if any) you can also season pasta to have both a delicious first and second course.
Stuffed with a mix of bread and cheese, fried, and then passed in simple tomato sauce, the buttoned eggplants (translation of the word mbuttunate) in the Calabrian version will make you look great.
Make 5 or 6 cuts in each eggplant without fully dividing them, turning them into fabulous stuffed eggplants or even the main courses with eggplants.
A great vegetarian second course, these buttoned eggplants can be prepared well in advance and reheated before serving, and maybe in the meantime, cook the pasta to toss in the leftover sauce.
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Up here, where the magnifier is, you can click on it “SEARCH”🔎, you can write the ingredient that you find when you open the fridge, or from your pantry, and you will have the chance to enter hundreds of recipes with the ingredient you have chosen.
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Since I know you love eggplants as much as we all do, here below I leave you with many ideas to copy and bring to the table.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Frying, Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients for Stuffed Eggplants or ‘mbuttunate
- 4 eggplants (long black)
- to taste coarse salt
- 2.8 oz breadcrumbs (without crust)
- 1.4 oz pecorino cheese
- 1.4 oz grated parmesan cheese
- 2.8 oz caciocavallo cheese
- to taste basil
- to taste mint
- 17.6 oz tomato puree
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 leaves basil
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Tools
- 2 Frying pans
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Immersion blender
Preparation of Stuffed Eggplants or ‘mbuttunate
To prepare the Stuffed Eggplants or ‘mbuttunate, first wash them and remove the stem, then make 5 cuts on each.
Without dividing them in half, so deep but not all the way through.
Fill each cut with coarse salt and let the eggplants purge for at least 30 minutes.
If you have more time, even better.
Meanwhile, cut the bread into pieces and grate the cheeses.
Blend with a mixer or food processor the breadcrumbs and combine them in a bowl with the grated cheeses.
Tear the mint and basil leaves and add them to the cheeses in the bowl, mix well.
After the eggplants have rested, rinse them under running water to remove the salt and dry them well.
Fill each cut of each eggplant with the bread and cheese mixture by gently pressing with your fingers.
Heat 2 inches of sunflower oil well in a high-sided pan that can hold all the eggplants.
Fry them turning them occasionally for at least 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in another large high-sided pan, sauté the whole crushed garlic clove for a few minutes with a little extra virgin olive oil.
Pour in the tomato puree, season with salt, and add the basil leaves, cook the sauce for 10 minutes.
When the eggplants are fried on all sides, drain them with a slotted spoon into the pan with the tomato sauce.
Lower the heat and cook them for at least 25/30 minutes, turning occasionally to flavor them with the sauce on all sides.
Serve the ‘mbuttunate eggplants piping hot and with the leftover sauce you can also prepare pasta.
How to store stuffed eggplants
You can store them in the refrigerator for 2 days in an airtight container.
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