Aubergine Parmigiana: The Ultimate vegetarian meal!

This aubergine parmigiana is the most glorious rainy and cold day dish you could ever imagine, as well as my husband’s signature dish. He makes it every time someone comes over and his whole family demands it every time we get together. It even traveled the Atlantic and is now also often made by my mom.

Still no one makes this aubergine parmigiana dish like the hubs. Note that this recipe is basically a work of love, it takes time and patience to make but believe me when I tell you it is SO worth it.

Below is the step-by-step guide to this delicious dish!

Well, the story of this recipe actually starts in Cyprus where we often go on vacation. There this amazing restaurant called Romeo’s, (we go at least twice each time we are there, but it’s now been torn down :(…) as part of their fantastic service, often serve starters on the house; you never know what you are getting but it’s always delicious. One time, we got Aubergine parmigiana and that was the start of a crazy research on what it was, different recipes, methods of making, sauces, different ingredients, all in hope of getting something resembling what we got that one time.

The hubs is also a huge of  and her “How to cook the perfect.. “. Here is where he got his inspiration, the recipe is fantastic and we only adapted one or two steps.

Enjoy!

Aubergine parmigiana
Serves 4
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
2 hr
Total Time
2 hr 15 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
2 hr
Total Time
2 hr 15 min
To bake aubergines
  1. 1.5kg aubergines
  2. Salt
  3. Pepper
  4. Olive oil
For sauce
  1. 2 tbsp olive oil
  2. 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
  3. 800g good tinned tomatoes
  4. 150ml red wine
  5. 2-3 tsp of brown sugar
  6. 2 tsp dried oregano
  7. Balsamic Vinegar
To build it
  1. 200g mozzarella, thinly sliced
  2. 175g Parmesan, grated
  3. 50g breadcrumbs
  4. Olive oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180C
  2. 1. Rinse and slice the aubergines 1.5cm thick (This thickness gives a more meaty like texture to the dish, thinner they almost disappear and thicker will likely be undercooked in the middle giving a chewy texture )
  3. 2. Brush the aubergines with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  4. 3. Bake for 45min - 1h or until the aubergines have browned and seem almost mushy in the center (it can take up to 90min)
For the sauce
  1. While the aubergines bake,
  2. 4. In a deep, heavy pot (we use Le cruiset), fry the garlic until light brown over medium heat.
  3. 5. Add the tomatoes and wine (full body red wine works best)
  4. 6. Bring to a boil, add sugar and oregano and leave to simmer for about 45min, stir occasionally
  5. 7. Puree the sause and season accordingly (this step is SUPER important and the right seasoning makes or breaks this dish, it often requires more sugar, a bit of salt a a good drizzle of balsamic vinegar)
  6. 8. Mix breadcrumbs (we use Panko) with 1/3 of the parmesan and a good drizzle of oil
To build it
  1. 9. Coat the bottom of a baking dish with some sauce
  2. 10. Layer the aubergines and cover with mozzarella and parmesan cheese
  3. Repeat until you run of ingredients leaving enough tomato sauce to cover the top
  4. 11. Cover with the breadcrumbs mix
  5. 12. Bake for 30-45 mins or until the top is golden at 180C
Notes
  1. This is considered a side dish but we find it to be so absolutely fantastic by itself that we have it as a main course and have a simple Greek Salad to accompany it.
Purpledalia @ home https://www.purpledalia.net/

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