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 see by clicking the link to the YouTube channel a little further down (or by clicking here), it originated from a colleague’s mistake at work. Lately, besides working at the hypermarket cash register, I’ve been covering shifts in the bread and deli department. One morning a colleague placed the eggplant parmesan label on a white fish lasagna. Several customers became curious looking at what the label indicated, thus the spark ignited. I will try the recipe for grilled eggplant parmesan with fish. Obviously, being a trial and also being on a diet, I certainly couldn’t prepare the classic fried eggplant parmesan.
So here I am with the grilled eggplant parmesan with smoked salmon, honored to have my Paciccio and partner Lauretta as the chosen testers for this recipe. Hearing that picky father of mine say: 1) it was good; 2) it was light; 3) delicate and well-balanced; 4) I could make it again; 5) suggestions and other various precisions that I won’t list here because that picky one says a lot even when eating!
I can already tell you that it’s a really simple recipe, once you get past the time it takes 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 and 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 for cheese, I used robiola, which I love. I thus replaced the béchamel or mozzarella that are generally used for the classic eggplant parmesan, adding a tablespoon of tomato sauce to better work the robiola with the milk. I chose pre-sliced and packaged smoked salmon, which remains among the still fairly economical products to use for eggplant timbale recipes like this. And as mentioned, I did not fry the eggplants.
Before moving on to the recipe, I remind you that every day on the Facebook group and on the fan page of Le Ricette di Bea 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 links to the recipes with eggplants and zucchinis available on the blog:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- 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 150 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 black oval eggplant (or two if they are not very large)
- 1 package robiola cheese (60 grams)
- 3.5 oz smoked salmon
- 1 tbsp tomato sauce
- 2 tbsps 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 the preparation of the eggplant parmesan with fish by cutting the beautiful and violet protagonist by placing it on a cutting board. Choose a nice knife without serrated edges. Cut as many rounds as possible from the eggplant of similar thickness. It will be easier to grill and cook them evenly this way. If you have doubts, you can watch the video recipe linked above.
Once all the rounds are cut, we can start cooking the eggplant. Take a grill, in my case a cast iron one for the stove. If you have an electric grill, that will work just fine. Place the eggplant rounds on a tray and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley. Let them cool.
In the meantime, return to the cutting board, take the cherry tomatoes, in my case Pachino tomatoes that I had already purchased to prepare Pasta with Pachino and Taggiasca Olives, and divide 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 the cherry tomatoes and eggplants ready, all that’s left is 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 with a fork or one of the spoons. We need to obtain a cream that is not too thick. If necessary, add more milk.
Turn on the oven in static mode at 350°F (180°C). As with all my recipes that involve oven baking, I remind you that my oven, or rather my father reminds you this time, is 24 years old! Therefore, the old one has mood swings, sometimes the 350°F (180°C) seems like 158°F (70°C) and other times like 392°F (200°C). So I never stray too far to keep an eye on it. Having said that, if your oven also occasionally acts up, be careful, the surface of our eggplant parmesan must not become too dark and thus too dry. There is indeed no cheese like mozzarella to make it creamier and moister, and there is no béchamel or cream.
Take the baking dish, in my case round because I can no longer find my beloved square transparent dish! Appeal for ‘Who has seen it!’ Moisten the bottom with extra virgin olive oil and start placing the grilled eggplants. I cut two eggplants in half to cover the dish well and not leave holes at the bottom. Then moisten the eggplants with the milk and robiola mixture and place the cherry tomatoes. Lay the salmon and sprinkle with parsley or marjoram.
Continue this way until you finish the ingredients; in my case, I created only two layers. Bake the salmon and eggplant parmesan at 350°F (180°C) for about 30 minutes. Once ready, let it cool slightly before cutting it, so that the cheese cools and the layers do not crumble.
All that’s left is to remind you that I’ll be waiting for you on the blog with many other easy recipes like this, on social profiles with lots of extra content, and as always, bon appétit!!!
My father and his partner really enjoyed this dish of white eggplant parmesan. “Light and well-balanced, it’s not heavy because the eggplants weren’t fried and the tomato is not noticeable,” my father, the food critic, could say, especially for his daughter’s dishes. He always finds something that: “could have been” or “should have been” and then “but then do as you like”!
Storage and Variations:
You can store the grilled eggplant and salmon parmesan in the refrigerator when it is completely cold, closed in a container with a lid. For a few days in the fridge, if you plan to keep it for more days, you can freeze it in the freezer.
For variations, I can suggest: you can replace the salmon with swordfish already cut into slices or cubes. I think I will also try the variant with tuna suggested by a friend of mine.
You can also replace robiola with ricotta or Philadelphia or other creamy and spreadable cheeses.
Some have also suggested sprinkling grated cheese on the surface to form the classic crust of baked eggplant timbale. But I don’t really like mixing aged cheeses with fish. Therefore, I’m giving it to you as a suggestion, but I won’t try it.
