Today we conjure up the king of Italian casseroles. This vegetarian dish is so popular in Italy that people all over the country argue about its origin. Emilia Romagna, Campania or Sicily? What is clear is that each region has its own little variation of this dish. We now prepare the only real original version of this dish, the Sicilian ;)
Heat some olive oil in a deep frying pan. Peel the onion, chop finely and sauté lightly in the olive oil. Then deglaze with the strained tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
700 g strained tomatoes, 1 onion, olive oil extra virgin, salt, pepper
Meanwhile, wash the eggplants and remove the stems. Using a vegetable slicer, cut them into oblong slices about 5mm/⅕in thick. Then place the slices in a colander and sprinkle each with coarse sea salt. Weigh them down with a plate and let them drain for about 1 hour. This will remove the bitter water from the eggplant. After resting, wash the salt off the eggplant slices, then pat dry with paper towels.
700 g eggplants, coarse sea salt
Heat sunflower oil in a large frying pan until the deep-frying thermometer shows approx. 170°C/340°F. Now deep-fry a few eggplant slices at a time in the hot oil until they turn a light brown color. Then briefly drain on a large plate with paper towel.
sunflower oil
Drain the buffalo mozzarella and finely dice. Once the tomato sauce has simmered long enough, take some basil, chop finely, add and mix. Now spread some of the sauce evenly on the bottom of the casserole dish.
250 g buffalo mozzarella cheese, basil
Now lay out the fried eggplant slices in the baking dish close together over the entire surface, creating a first layer. This is now generously covered with tomato sauce and sprinkled with ⅓ of the parmesan. Add a little more pepper and sprinkle with about ⅓ of the mozzarella cubes.
75 g parmesan cheese
Now we repeat this process two more times, so that we get a total of three layers.
Finally, place the parmigiana in the oven for about 40 minutes at 200°C/400°F top/bottom heat. Let it rest briefly before serving.Buon appetito!