Eggplant Parmigiana
Eggplant, tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese baked in delicious layers
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 3 large eggplants, sliced thinly lengthwise
- 30 ml olive oil
- salt
- 1 batch home-made tomato sauce (or use 3 cups of passata sauce)
- 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese (or another melting cheese like cheddar)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C.
- Prepare eggplant by slicing it and either microwaving for 4 minutes or salting the slices for 30 minutes - 1 hour.
- Pat the slices dry with kitchen paper and place on a greased baking tray.
- Season with salt and olive oil and bake at 160°C for approximately 30 minutes or until tender and slightly browned.
- Warm up the home-made tomato sauce and mix the cheeses.
- Once the eggplant is cooked, spread some tomato sauce in the bottom of a greased 20 x 20 cm ovenproof dish.
- Add a layer of eggplant and sprinkle with cheese.
- Continue with layers of tomato sauce, eggplant and cheese, ending with a final layer of cheese.
- Bake at 160°C for 20 - 25 minutes and serve.
Notes
- Traditionally the eggplant is floured and shallow fried. I have found this time consuming and the eggplant does absorb a lot of oil. Fried eggplant gives the whole dish a richer taste, but oven-baked eggplant is also tasty and is a bit healthier.
- As mentioned before I have used generic hard cow's milk cheese instead of Parmesan to cut down on cost.