This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Eggplant Parmigiana
If Moussaka is Greece’s answer to Italian Lasagna, then Eggplant Parmigiana is Italy’s comeback. And what a comeback it is!!! A southern Italian classic, this is one of those incredible vegetarian dishes that’s so good, even card-carrying carnivores won’t pause for a moment to wonder, “Where’s the meat??” This is comfort food for everyone. It oozes with cheesy goodness – molten mozzarella on top and the savoury hum of parmesan within. It’s slick and bright with fresh tomato sauce. It’s dotted with addictive pops of fresh basil leaves like a great margherita pizza. And with every bite, you get a mouthful of the juicy, soft eggplant layers. There are a few steps involved in making this dish. But as one of the greatest vegetarian-low-carb dishes imaginable, it is worth every second!
The three parts of Eggplant Parmigiana
Here are the three parts of Eggplant Parmigiana:
What you need to make Eggplant Parmigiana
1. Eggplant slices
First up, here’s all you need for the eggplant slices:
Eggplants / aubergines – We need 4 to 5 decent-sized eggplants for this recipe. 1.8kg (3.6lb) in total. This sounds like a lot, but we need them! Eggplant shrinks as it cooks, and we need enough to cover 3 layers of a full-size casserole dish. Also, the eggplant is sliced about 3 times thicker than it is for Greek Moussaka, so we need more; andOlive oil – For brushing before we bake them. Oil helps the slices cook and stay moist.
2. Tomato sauce (“sugo”)
The sauce for Eggplant Parmigiana is a classic Italian tomato sugo (“sauce” in Italian). It’s thicker than what you’d make for pasta, because if it’s too thin the water tends to bleed out from the sauce as the Eggplant Parmigiana cooks, resulting in a “split” sauce. Also, the Eggplant Parmigiana will be too sloppy and impossible to serve in (reasonably!) neat slices. Here’s what you need:
Tomato passata – Pureed, strained pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of Mutti tomato passata sold at Walmart). It’s readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces. Passata is excellent for making thick, smooth sauces. More on tomato passata here;Crushed or finely diced tomato – We don’t want a perfectly smooth sugo, we also want some texture and chunkiness, hence some finely chopped tomato as well. The better the quality of your canned tomato, the better your sauce! Cheap canned tomato tends to be sour and not really taste of what it should, ie. tomato!Oregano – Or basil will work a treat here;Garlic – Lots of it! Garlic and tomato go together like Adam and Eve; andSugar – Just a touch, to bring out the natural sweetness of the tomato and balance the sourness. If you have the time to simmer the tomato sauce and simmer it for 1 1/2 hours you can skip the sugar.
3. Cheese and basil for layers
For the layers, we use parmesan and basil sandwiched between the eggplant layers. Finally we use mozzarella for sprinkling on top:
Parmesan – It’s all in a name: Parmesan is the essential flavouring and seasoning for Eggplant Parmigiana! We finely grate it and sprinkle on each layer so its cheesy, savoury taste permeates every bite;Mozzarella – I did say right upfront there’s plenty of molten cheesy goodness in Eggplant Parmigiana! Hey, we can afford the calories here, remember, this is a low-carb dish!Fresh basil – Nothing goes better with tomatoes than basil! We scatter leaves on each and every layer as well as for garnishing the finished dish.
How to make Eggplant Parmigiana
Steps: Bake eggplant slices → Make Sauce → Assemble and bake!
1. Baked eggplant Slices
No salt? That’s right, no salt. You often see recipes calling for salt sprinkled on the raw eggplant to draw water out, which tenderises the flesh and makes the eggplant absorb less oil when cooking. Common wisdom also claims that salt removes the bitter taste in eggplants. However the reality is modern eggplants have had any bitterness bred out of them so it’s not a necessary step today. We do not need to salt the eggplant for Eggplant Parmigiana because we found that it makes the dish too salty once you add the parmesan (even after patting the moisture off) and already-seasoned tomato sauce. Also for this dish, the tomato sauce makes the eggplant flesh beautifully tender and juicy. So, no salt!
2. Tomato sauce (“sugo”)
3. Assembling and baking Eggplant Parmigiana
Scatter with the remaining fresh basil leaves just before serving. The sauce needs to be quite thick otherwise you’ll end up with a sloppy Eggplant Parmigiana with a “split”-looking sauce, that can’t be neatly sliced. Let the Eggplant Parmigiana rest for 5 to 10 minute before cutting to serve. This gives a chance for it to both cool and also set a little, which will help ensure you can cut neat(-ish) slices, like so: Meat-free food this good could even convert me into a vegetarian … OK, I’m maybe exaggerating there! Just a throwaway line that sounds good so I can convince you to make this! 😂 Everybody knows that I’m a sucker for roasts. I could never give up meat!!! – Nagi x PS. The Eggplant Parmigiana is pictured above with a Rocket and Parmesan Salad, minus the parmesan because I figure I’ve already used enough in the dish! (That’s Arugula Salad, to those of you in the States.) Any big, green leafy salad will work a treat here. See here for all my side salads and vegetables.
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
More eggplant excellence
Life of Dozer
Dozer in his usual position while I’m shooting a recipe video….
