Parmigiano Melanzane
What a great way to say Eggplant Parmesan. Full of gusto, Latin rhythm and a superbly succinct description of the portion at hand.
Eggplant parmesan is a mix of continents. The eggplants originate from Asia, the tomato from South America and the cheese from Italy where it was all banged together a few hundred years ago somewhere between Sicilia and Napoli. What a magnificent amalgam of origins and cultures. A real poke in the eye to all this “cultural appropriation” crap that is spinning around the world these days. What a bore! If they had it their way we would all be eating equitable dirt and pretending it was nouvelle cuisine.
There are many conflicting claims as to the origin of the name. Some say Parmigiana comes from the cheese. Others contest that the term is from the Sicilian word “palmigiana” which translates as the louvre slats of window shutters and alludes to the overlapping of the eggplant in the tray… It is more probable that the south is the origin of this dish, as it is popular from Sicily to Napoli but not at all popular in Parma itself which is in the north. “Mama Mia”, does it really matter? If it’s tasty, it has a future; if not, it would have been consigned to the dustbin of culinary history and we wouldn’t be discussing it.
The traditional parmigiana melanzane that we all know is a rather heavy concoction of eggplant, tomato sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, a bit like a lasagna without pasta. The recipe I will be offering up is a lighter, more attractive dish closer to restaurant fare and presentation rather than ‘Mama’s big Sunday lunch spread.
Parmigiano Melanzane
Ingredients: serves x 4
For tomato sauce:
- Tomato pulp x 2 cans
- Balsamic vinegar x 1 shluk
- Handful of fresh basil leaves chopped
- Onion peeled and diced fine x 1 small
- Garlic cloves diced x 2
- Olive oil x shluk
- Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
Small shluk of olive oil in pan; when hot, add the finely diced onion, toss for a couple of minutes and reduce heat to low. When the onion starts to clarify, add the garlic, stir for a minute, add tomato, basil and shluk of balsamic vinegar, add a pinch of salt and grind of pepper, leave to reduce and simmer on a low heat for ten minutes, taste for salt and pepper and set aside to cool.
For béchamel sauce:
Ingredients:
- Milk x 500 ml
- Butter x 50 gram
- All purpose flour x 50 gram
- Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
Method:
Add butter to a small saucepan on a very low flame. Once butter has melted, add the flour all at once and using a whisk bring it all together until it is like a wet paste, add 1/3 of the milk and let it thicken before adding the second, thicken and then add the third portion of milk. As it thickens add a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg; when thickened, set aside and cover with Glad wrap touching the béchamel to prevent a skin forming.
- Eggplant strip peeled and sliced (melanzane) x 2
- Fresh basil x small bunch
- Tomato peeled and sliced, 1 cm thickness, x 3
- Parmigiana good handful grated
- Fresh mozzarella balls x 2
- Yellow cheese
- Olive oil
- Salt pepper
- Dried oregano
Boil a pot of water, incise an x on top of tomatoes, pop them into pot of boiling water for a couple of minutes, remove and let cool for a minute then peel, set aside to cool. Eggplants: using a potato peeler peel 4 to 5 strips off the eggplant from top to bottom, giving a zebra effect; too much skin is both tough on the teeth and bitter to the palate. Slice 1 cm thick pieces, place on baking paper on oven tray, brush both sides with olive oil, sprinkle a little coarse salt and coarse pepper along with oregano on each pieced. Put into a 200 Celsius oven for 15 minutes, turn over and cook until soft and slightly browned, remove to cool and set aside. Tomato: brush with olive oil, salt and pepper, place on baking paper on oven tray and bake for ten minutes at 200 C, remove and set aside.
Putting it all together:
If you want to do individual portions, either use high baking rings of 6-7 cm diameter if you have them, or use larger aluminium muffin moulds, again 7 cm diameter and at least 5-6 cm height.
Cut out a small circle of baking paper to fit the diameter of the mould then a put little olive oil on the paper, sprinkle with parmigiana, yellow cheese, a tablespoon of béchamel and a tablespoon of tomato sauce, basil leaf, slice of tomato, béchamel, then slice of eggplant. Repeat this layering several times until the mould is bursting at the seams.
Into a 200°C oven for 10-15 minutes, remove, run a knife around the edge and up-end in the centre of the dinner plate, lift mould or ring off, and voilà there you have a beautiful light and attractive Parmigiana Melanzane. Place a sprig of basil on top and you have at least a one star Michelin meal right in front of you and it didn’t even cost you an arm and a leg,
Buon Appetito as they say the length and breadth of the boot.
Next week: lemon meringue for dessert, Italian or French? Hold your breath and you will find out. A poof!
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