This is one of my favorite dish: prepared for me by my mama since I was a kid and never I get enough!!!

Pay attention: I will teach you two ways to cook the Egg-Plant Parmigiana: in the oven or in to a fry-pan with lid, do not make confusion: your choice for the more convenient method, both the recipes are  delicious!

Kindly check also the section: “Preparations”, which is well detailed for the cleaning and preparation of Egg-Plant before to proceed to this recipe.

Eggplant Parmigiana is a delicious Italian traditional recipe cooked in the oven or in a covered pan this tasty Italian dish with eggplant, tomato, cheese, Oregano, basil, will give you happiness! Following is my family recipe for it:

Ingredients: (6-8 persons)

two Egg-Plants ( 2 pounds – 1 kilo)

1 pound (half kilo) of a half seasoned Cheese type “Fontina” if you cannot find it use “Gongorzola” or “Pecorino”  which, for this recipe, are better (this is my humble opinion) than “Parmisan” or “Grana” because the latter are too hard and the cuts you will make are not so clean like with a half-soft cheese

half liter (16 ounces) of Tomato Sauce

two spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Marine Salt

few Leaves of Basil and also of Oregano (fresh are better)

 

Peel the Egg-Plants, use precaution to not cut your fingers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cut in half-inch (1-2 cm) slices with a sharp knife with a thin blade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you can set the slices to dry in a colander…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…spreading Marine Salt…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…making another layer of slices and again spreading Marine Salt…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and so on until you use al the slices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

set a weight on the top and leave to get the water off the Egg-Plants, usually half an hour is enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you can use everything as weight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

another way is to set the slices on your sink marble, spread the Salt and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

set a wood with a weight on the top;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

what I prefer is, after I spread Salt on them, to set the slices on top of my wooden stove hot-top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

waiting few minutes before to turn them upside-down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

making them soft and dry, you can do the same using a fry-pan: in this case I suggest to put oven-paper on the bottom so the slices do not stick on the fry-pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

take off the Oregano leaves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

slice the Cheese thin, no more than 1 cm (a bit less than half-inch)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

put two-three spoons of Tomato Sauce in the bottom of an oven-pan (or in the Fry-pan) adding two spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, spread well all around!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

set few Basil Leaves on the bottom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

use a clean dishcloth to dry each slice clean from excess of Salt, after that start to make a layer of slices on the bottom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

on the top of the Egg-Plant slices layer put the Cheese slices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

spread some spoons of Tomato Sauce on top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

do another layer of Egg-Plant slices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

again go with the Cheese….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the Tomato Sauce, and repeat until you have Egg-Plant and Cheese slices. At the end spread the Oregano Leaves on the top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

put in the oven at 250 Celsius (480 Fahrenheit) for 35-40 minutes or 350 Celsius (660 Fahrenheit) for 25-30 minutes but remember: the time of cooking depends from the thickness of the layers you made (how many, thickness of the slices, type of Cheese, etc.)

 

 

 

 

or put your Fry-Pan (covered with the lid) on the fire, cook slowly if possible to you don’t get the bottom burned…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…let’s say you cook covered with the lid for 20-25 minutes and remember: the time of cooking depends from the thickness of the layers you made (how many, thickness of the slices, type of Cheese, etc.) more it is thick less the temperature must be and you cook longer

 

 

 

 

 

 

in the fry-pan you will see water accumulating: if it looks too much (starting to raise until the top of your pie) you just remove the lid and let your Egg-Plant Parmigiana cook: it should dry the excess of water.

 

 

 

 

Always pay attention to the smell: as you notice an irresistible smell of good food you must check and your preparation is ready! Wait please! let cool down for one hour at least: this will give to your pie the needed consistency to be cut in proper way, you can keep in the fridge for the day after: in this case warm a bit in the oven before to eat.