Recently a few exciting things happened in my life. I got married. After said marriage, I went on a honeymoon. TO ITALY!!!
So obviously there’s so much to cover here and my stories of Italy and marriage are for another day (stay posted for a city by city guide). But my Italian honeymoon helped me have the idea for this delicious eggplant dish.
*One quick side note about Italian cooking, I learned that in Italy it’s all about using minimal ingredients. Instead of just throwing in a zillion ingredients fresh Italian cuisine is about using a few fresh ingredients to make a perfect dish.
Eggplant Parmesan is a staple of Italian American cooking, everybody has had it before. The funny thing is that it’s not really that popular in Italy, well at least it’s not lots of Italian menus that I saw. Eggplant or melanzane is very popular in Italy, it’s used as a vegetable side quite often. During my travels I often found Italian chefs slicing the eggplant thin and grilling the vegetable. In some of the more touristy areas they would make the dish like you’d expect back in America, but most restaurants if they did have eggplant parm, it was actually baked and not breaded at all. This made the dish much lighter and made you feel less like you were going to explode after you ate it.
Eggplant parm hales from Sicily as well as the Campania region of Italy (ergo Southern Italy). Southern Italians, specifically Sicilians were one of the major groups of Italians who came to America at the turn of the century. With them, they brought their regional dishes and flavors as a result we Americans now just assume that eggplant paremsan is ubiquitous in Italy when it really isn’t.
My “No Fry Eggplant Parmesan” is delicious and satisfying, you get that rich buttery flavor of the eggplant without having to fry or bread anything. This dish can come together very quickly so it’s perfect for a weeknight meal. If you have frozen sauce leftover, it’s even easier.
Recipe: No Fry Eggplant Parmesan
Ingredients
1 Large Eggplant Peeled and Sliced into 1/4 inch circles
1/8 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Tsp. Oregano
1 Tsp Fresh Basil
*Tomato Sauce* – In what I have pictured above I had tons of leftover bolognese sauce frozen so I heated that up and used it. But if you don’t have frozen sauce at your disposal I’ll provide a quick tomato sauce for you to use.
2 Large Tomatoes
1/4 Cup Chicken Stock
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1/8 Cup Diced White Onions
1 Tbsp. Fresh Crushed Garlic
1 Tbsp. Fresh Basil
Salt & Pepper
Method
– Take your eggplant and soak them in a large bowl of salt water. Let them sit for a few hours (if you have time). If you don’t have time, let them sit for 10 minutes. What should come out is a brown water, this makes the eggplant bitter. Pour that out and pat your eggplant dry.
– Now brush the eggplant with your olive oil and lay them flat on a baking sheet. Bake them in the oven at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes, until they are golden brown on each side and squishy to the touch when they’re done (but not so squishy that they just fall apart). Nothing is worse than undercooked eggplant.
– While your eggplant is cooking you can heat up your sauce, or make your fresh sauce. To make the fresh sauce, grate the tomatoes into a large bowl. Now add your olive oil to a medium sized pot, once it’s hot enough add your onions and garlic to the olive oil. Saute them for 5 minutes or until they soften. Now add your salt and pepper to taste. Then transfer your grated tomatoes to the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes then add your chicken stock. Allow it to simmer on a low heat until your eggplant is ready.
– Once the eggplant is cooked in a baking dish layer the eggplant flat in the dish, then add your sauce over top. Finally sprinkle all your cheese evenly over the dish and bake for another 10 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Serve with some fresh pasta and enjoy!
- 1 Large Eggplant Peeled and Sliced into 1/4 inch circles
- 1/8 Cup Olive Oil
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
- 2 Tsp. Oregano
- 1 Tsp Fresh Basil
- *Tomato Sauce* – In what I have pictured above I had tons of leftover bolognese sauce frozen so I heated that up and used it. But if you don’t have frozen sauce at your disposal I’ll provide a quick tomato sauce for you to use.
- 2 Large Tomatoes
- 1/4 Cup Chicken Stock
- 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
- 1/8 Cup Diced White Onions
- 1 Tbsp. Fresh Crushed Garlic
- 1 Tbsp. Fresh Basil
- Salt & Pepper
- – Take your eggplant and soak them in a large bowl of salt water. Let them sit for a few hours (if you have time). If you don’t have time, let them sit for 10 minutes. What should come out is a brown water, this makes the eggplant bitter. Pour that out and pat your eggplant dry.
- – Now brush the eggplant with your olive oil and lay them flat on a baking sheet. Bake them in the oven at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes, until they are golden brown on each side and squishy to the touch when they’re done (but not so squishy that they just fall apart). Nothing is worse than undercooked eggplant.
- – While your eggplant is cooking you can heat up your sauce, or make your fresh sauce. To make the fresh sauce, grate the tomatoes into a large bowl. Now add your olive oil to a medium sized pot, once it’s hot enough add your onions and garlic to the olive oil. Saute them for 5 minutes or until they soften. Now add your salt and pepper to taste. Then transfer your grated tomatoes to the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes then add your chicken stock. Allow it to simmer on a low heat until your eggplant is ready.
- – Once the eggplant is cooked in a baking dish layer the eggplant flat in the dish, then add your sauce over top. Finally sprinkle all your cheese evenly over the dish and bake for another 10 minutes until the top is golden brown.
- Serve with some fresh pasta and enjoy!
