Melanzane alla parmigiana

Ingredients

• Aubergines1.5 kg
• Tinned tomatoes800 g
• Mozzarella400 g
• Parmesan150 g
• Basil30 g
• Garlic3 clove
• Olive oil200 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Slice the aubergines lengthways half a centimetre thick, salt them and press them under a weight for half an hour.

   35 min

2. 2

   Pat the slices completely dry; wet ones spit in the oil and never crust.

   8 min

3. 3

   Fry the aubergine in batches in olive oil, two minutes a side, and drain them on a rack.

   25 min

4. 4

   Fry the garlic, add the tomatoes and cook the sauce twenty minutes to thicken, salting at the end.

   25 min

5. 5

   Slice the mozzarella and leave it on paper to drain for ten minutes.

   12 min

6. 6

   Layer it: sauce, aubergine, mozzarella, parmesan, basil — four times over.

   12 min

7. 7

   Bake at 190 °C for forty minutes and let it stand twenty before cutting.

   62 min

About the dish

The aubergines are salted and pressed for half an hour. They give up their bitter water and then absorb half as much oil — without that step the dish comes out heavy.

The mozzarella is sliced ahead and drained on paper. Its whey is the main reason a parmigiana slumps on the plate.

The name is probably not from Parma: more likely from the Sicilian parmiciana, the overlapping slats of a shutter, laid the way aubergine slices lie in the dish.

Worth knowing

• — There is no breading here. In the Neapolitan canon the aubergine is fried naked, and flour and egg only make the dish heavier.
• — Parmigiana is better the next day. It needs time for the layers to set, and in Italy it is often baked in advance.
• — Finish the top with parmesan rather than mozzarella. Mozzarella on top dries to rubber; parmesan gives a crust.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

520 kcal

Protein

24 g

Fat

36 g

Carbs

24 g

More from Italy

• Spaghetti carbonara — Pasta from four ingredients: guanciale, eggs, pecorino and pepper. There is no cream in it and never was.
• Risotto alla milanese — A saffron risotto built on stock and near-constant stirring, which is what pulls the starch out of the rice and makes it creamy.
• Pesto alla genovese — Basil ground with garlic and pine nuts. No heat and no blender — a mortar and a cool room.