Today for a change, I am sharing a succulent Italian recipe: aubergines alla parmigiana. This is a treasured recipe that I got from one of my wonderful French mum friend: Fanny.
I already hear you thinking… “What! 50 minutes preparation time!” Yes, it does take a while to prepare but it is genuinely worth the effort. Plus my top tip is whilst you are at it you may as well double the proportions to make an extra one. You will have one ready in the freezer for these days when you don’t fancy cooking but need a wholesome home-cooked meal… yes we all have these days ;)
Besides it is a great dish to cook with your children on a rainy week-end. I did it last time with my boys and they loved it. You can get them to:
- Sprinkle the aubergines slices with salt
- Dust the aubergines slices with flour and paint them with olive oil
- Butter the oven dish
- Build the layers
You will find that it is a wonderful dish to get children to discover aubergines.
It is as well a great main for entertaining. You can cook it in advance. It is even better warmed up. Serve with a salad when you have friends coming over.
As you can see it is an all-rounder so without further do, please check the recipe below! And if you try it, leave a rating or a comment, it only takes a second and it is so helpful for others. Thank you.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg aubergines
- 30 cl olive oil
- 50 cl thick tomato coulis
- 8 slices parma ham
- 1 bunch basil
- 250 g mozzarella
- 100 g flour
- 90 g parmesan
- 40 g butter
Instructions
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(An hour before) Wash and thinly slice lengthwise the aubergines. Place them in a colander, sprinkle generously with salt (don't worry, you'll be rinsing most of it off before you cook it) and let them to sit for about an hour.
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Thoroughly rinse the eggplant slices and pat them dry.
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Dust the aubergines slices with flour and paint them with olive oil.
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Butter a large deep oven dish and pre-heat your oven to 180ºC.
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Pan-fry the aubergines slices, remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.
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Wash and mince basil.
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Put a first layer of aubergines slices at the bottom of your oven dish, cover with 4 parma ham slices, half of the tomato coulis, half of the basil, half of the mozzarella, a bit less than half of the parmesan.
Renew the operation and finish with a layer of aubergines slices covered with what is leftover of parmesan.
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Cook in the oven for 40 minutes. Serve very hot with a salad.
Recipe Notes
Aubergines alla parmigiana are delicious served with a Crozes Hermitage red wine.
Be really careful if you wish to add salt, between the parmesan and parma ham it is already salty.
*** Don’t forget Pancake Day: Tuesday, 13 February 18. ***
Get ready with Marlette organic crêpes (French pancakes) baking kit.
Succulent indeed!
Absolutely gorgeous! Oven baking aubergine changes the texture to melt in the mouth, I love it that way!
I hadn’t made Melanzane alla Parmigiana before and this recipe was great. Made it for lunch today and it got lots of compliments! Will be making it again!