How did the recipe for Grilled Eggplant and Salmon Parmesan that you are about to read come about? As I explain in the video recipe that you can watch by clicking the link to the YouTube channel below (or by clicking here), it was born from a mistake by a colleague at work. Recently, in addition to being at the checkout in the hypermarket, I have covered shifts in the bread and gastronomy department. One morning, a colleague placed the eggplant parmesan label on a white fish lasagna. Several customers were intrigued by what the label indicated, thus sparking the idea. I will try the recipe for grilled eggplant parmesan with fish. Obviously, being a test and also being on a diet, I certainly couldn’t prepare the classic fried eggplant parmesan.
So here I am with the eggplant parmesan with smoked salmon, honored to have my Paciccio and the companion Lauretta as the chosen testers for this recipe. Hearing that precise father of mine say that: 1) it was good; 2) it was light; 3) delicate and well balanced; 4) I could make it again; 5) suggestions and various other remarks which I won’t list here because that precise person says a lot of things even when he’s eating!
I’m telling you already that it’s a really simple recipe, apart from the time to grill the eggplants, the rest is a piece of cake. Arrange all the ingredients in layers in the baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes. I chose a nice large eggplant that will be enough to prepare a salmon parmesan like mine. A round dish where I made two layers with grilled eggplants, salmon, and robiola.
As a cheese, I used robiola, which I love. So I replaced the béchamel or mozzarella that are generally used for the classic eggplant parmesan, and I added a tablespoon of tomato sauce to work the robiola with the milk better. I chose smoked salmon already sliced and packaged, which remains among the still fairly economical products to use for eggplant timbale recipes like in this case. And as I mentioned, I didn’t fry the eggplants.
These and all other recipes with salmon as the main ingredient can be found collected in the special: recipes with salmon divided by categories! Appetizers, main courses, and hot or cold second courses to enjoy all year round!
Before moving on to the recipe, I remind you that every day in the Facebook group and on the Le Ricette di Bea fan page you can find the Recipe of the Day and many other curiosities from the food world. You can become a follower by clicking here.
Below you will find the links to the recipes with eggplants and zucchinis available on the blog:
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Budget-Friendly
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
- Energy 135.98 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 9.69 (g) of which sugars 6.90 (g)
- Proteins 11.11 (g)
- Fat 6.44 (g) of which saturated 0.65 (g)of which unsaturated 1.07 (g)
- Fibers 3.47 (g)
- Sodium 571.85 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 5 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
- 1 large black oval eggplant (or two if they are not very large)
- 1 package robiola (2 oz)
- 3.5 oz smoked salmon
- 1 tablespoon tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 20 cherry tomatoes
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste basil
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- to taste parsley
Tools
- 1 Baking dish
- 1 Grill
- 1 Knife
- 2 Bowls
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Oven
- 1 Stove
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Tray
Steps
Let’s start preparing the eggplant parmesan with fish by cutting the beautiful and purple protagonist by placing it on a cutting board. Choose a nice knife without serration. We cut as many slices as possible from the eggplant of similar thickness. This way it will be easier to grill and cook them evenly. If you have doubts you can watch the video recipe linked above.
Once you have cut all the slices, let’s start cooking the eggplant. Take a grill, in my case a cast iron grill on the stove. If you have an electric grill, that will work fine too. Place the eggplant slices on a tray and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley. Let them cool.
In the meantime, let’s return to the cutting board, take the cherry tomatoes, in my case some Pachino tomatoes that I had already purchased to prepare Pasta with Pachino Tomatoes and Taggiasca Olives, and cut them into 4 parts. Pour the tomatoes into a bowl and season them with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and basil. If you prefer, you can replace the basil with oregano.
With tomatoes and eggplants ready, we only need to work on the robiola, which will be our cream for the grilled eggplant parmesan. Take the second bowl and pour in the robiola, the 2 tablespoons of milk, and the tablespoon of tomato sauce. Work it with a fork or a spoon. We need to obtain a not too thick cream. If necessary, add more milk.
Preheat the oven to 356°F in static mode. As with all my recipes that involve oven cooking, I remind you that mine, actually my father reminds you this time, is 24 years old! Therefore, the old one has some mood swings, sometimes the 356°F seems like 158°F, and other times it seems like 392°F. Therefore, I never stray too far to be able to check that it doesn’t play tricks. That said, if your oven sometimes acts up, be careful, the surface of our eggplant parmesan should not become too dark and therefore too dry. In fact, there is no cheese like mozzarella to make it creamier and more moist, and there is no béchamel or cream.
Take the baking dish, in my case a round one because I can no longer find my beloved square transparent dish! An appeal for Who Has Seen It? Drizzle the bottom with extra virgin olive oil and start laying the grilled eggplants. I cut two eggplants in half to cover the dish well and not leave gaps on the bottom. Then drizzle the eggplants with the mixture of milk and robiola and place the tomatoes. Add the salmon and sprinkle with parsley or marjoram.
Proceed in this way until the ingredients are finished, in my case I created only two layers. Bake the salmon and eggplant parmesan at 356°F for about 30 minutes. Once ready, let it cool slightly before cutting it, so that the cheese cools and the layers do not crumble.
I can only remind you that I await you on the blog with many other easy recipes like this, on social profiles with lots of extra content, and I wish you, as always, bon appétit!!!
My father and his partner really enjoyed this dish of white eggplant parmesan. “Light and well-balanced, it is not heavy because the eggplants were not fried, and you don’t notice the tomato,” my father, the culinary critic, could say, especially for his daughter’s dishes. He always finds something that: “could have been” or “should have been,” and then “but do as you wish”!
Storage and Variations:
You can store the grilled eggplant and salmon parmesan in the refrigerator when it is completely cold, sealed in a container with a lid. It can last a few days in the fridge, or if you plan to keep it for more days, you can freeze it.
As for variations, I can suggest: you can replace the salmon with swordfish already cut into slices or chunks. I think I’ll try the variant with tuna suggested by a friend of mine.
You can also replace the robiola with ricotta or Philadelphia or other creamy and spreadable cheeses.
There are also those who have suggested sprinkling grated cheese on the surface to create the classic crust of oven-baked eggplant timbale. But I don’t really like mixing aged cheeses with fish. So I sell it to you as advice, but I won’t try it.
