Eggplant Parmigiana
Instructions
To make the eggplant parmigiana, you have to begin preparing the tomato sauce by putting in a saucepan the chopped onion and garlic with 4 tablespoons of olive oil (1). Brown them for a few minutes, then add the tomato puree (2) and let it simmer until the sauce has thickened (3); finally, add the salt and some fresh diced basil, then remove it from the heat.
Trim the stem off the eggplants (4), wash and cut them lengthwise into slices less than inch thick (5).
Now place them in a bowl (or a colander), big enough to contain them all, arrange them in layers and sprinkle every layer with coarse salt (6).
Let the eggplants rest for at least 1 hour, so that most of their peculiar bitter juice can drain away.
After the eggplants have drained, take them out from the bowl, rinse them under running water (7) and dry them thoroughly with some kitchen paper (8).
Prepare a saucepan with oil, fry the eggplants (9) until golden brown on both sides, then let them dry on kitchen paper (10).
Oil an oven dish (11), pour some tomato sauce on the bottom (12) and arrange the first eggplant layer, lining up the slices without overlapping them (13).
Pour some sauce on the eggplants (14), spread it evenly and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese all over (15).
Cut the caciocavallo cheese into slices and lay some of them on the sauce layer, leaving some space among them (16).
Now prepare the second layer, lining up the eggplants horizontally if you've lined them up vertically in the first layer, and vice versa (17), coat them with some sauce (18), add the Parmesan cheese and finally the cheese slices (19), until you've run out of ingredients.
Remember to keep some tomato sauce (20) and Parmesan cheese(21) for the last layer.
Bake your eggplant parmigiana at 390F (200C) for 40 minutes until the tomato crust is nicely browned.
You can serve your eggplant parmigiana either hot out of the oven or at room temperature... it's excellent, even when served cold!
