I adore this classic Italian eggplant parmesan recipe! It contains freshly fried eggplant under a layer of parmesan cheese in a rich tomato sauce. Put it all in a large baking dish, then bake the whole lot in a hot oven…
How I love this simple yet savory Italian dish.
Italians call it ‘melanzane parmigiana’, or in other words eggplant parmigiana.
I do make dishes on request.
This eggplant parmesan for instance is one of those special dinners on request.
Then hubs had this sudden memory pop up in his mind of the melanzane parmigiana that one of his Italian friends used to make years ago.
The guy also had an Italian restaurant in Brussels at one point.
Eggplant
So he asked me to put this dish on our weekly menu in the future and as I was just making a grocery list I wrote down the stuff I needed.
Well 24 hours later there he was sitting at our dinner table, with a gorgeous tower of baked eggplant and tomato sauce in front of him.
And a smile from ear to ear.
It is funny though.
Because actually he is not a huge fan of eggplant. It is just not a vegetable that he will chose quickly. If he can pick another one for a stir fry for instance, then he certainly will. However this dish seems to have stolen his heart.
And I can clearly see why!
Easy Eggplant Parmesan
I have to be very honest here.
Because I have actually never made an eggplant parmesan before.
However the hubs assured me that my version tasted even better than the one he recalled after all those years. That is perhaps a little exaggerated, I don’t know.
But I will take it.
So here’s me beaming, a happy home cook!
Do you love cooking simple Italian dishes and meals?
Then you should also check out my Italian style fried zucchini!
Enjoy!
Easy Eggplant Parmesan
I adore this eggplant parmesan recipe! Fried eggplant with parmesan cheese in tomato sauce, then oven baked... A great Italian dish!
- 1 large fresh tomato chopped
- 2 large fresh eggplant
- 1 lb canned chopped tomatoes (450 g)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 medium garlic cloves
- ½ small red onion
- 4 handfuls grated cheese
- 1 cup plain flour (125 g)
- ½ cup frying oil (120 ml)
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- olive oil
- pepper
- salt
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Rinse the eggplants. Remove the green leaves on top and then slice the eggplant up. Sprinkle a large baking tray generously with salt. Then cover with a layer of eggplant slices. Sprinkle with salt and top with another layer of sliced eggplant.
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Then put the baking tray aside for 2 hours. In the meantime peel and chop the yellow onion and garlic. Add some olive to a large saucepan and add the onion, garlic and bay leaves.
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Place the pan over medium heat and cook the onion for 4 minutes. Then add the chopped ripe tomato.
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Stir and cook for a minute. Then add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Season with the dried thyme and a pinch of pepper and salt.
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Simmer the tomato sauce for 30 minutes. Then take it off the heat. Rinse the eggplant slices under running tap water. Pat them dry with kitchen paper. Pour the flour in a deep plate. Dip the sliced eggplant in it. Shake off any excess flour.
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Pour the frying oil in a heavy skillet. Put it over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the sliced eggplant for a minute on each side (in batches) until golden.
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Spread some of the tomato sauce on the bottom of a baking dish. Cover with a layer of fried eggplant. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Season with pepper.
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Then spread again with the tomato sauce followed by a layer of fried eggplant and grated cheese. Go on like this. Finish with tomato sauce and grated cheese.
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Bake the eggplant dish in a preheated oven at 356°F (180°C) until golden. Cut the baked eggplant up and serve hot.
