The Champion of single-course meals
What’s on the menu?
Eggplant parmigiana or aubergine parmigiana? Same plant different names.
Eggplant in Australia and America, and aubergine in France. The British word for eggplant is aubergine! So watch out when ordering a parmigiana in one of these countries!
What we know today is a big purple and green plant and like its cousin the tomato, it is considered a fruit because it grows from a flower. Can you believe that it is botanically (Solanum melongena) considered a berry, basically a fruit (berry). Aubergine blends well with vegetables and makes a delicious pickle (my mum used to make le melanzane sott’aceto e olio). Eggplant is a fruit that can be used to lower cholesterol.
From India to China, Mediterranean and Europe, you are on my table grilled, roasted, sautéed and stuffed!
In my Barese tradition it is ‘la melangiàne’ ( my dad loved them) and we cook it in a variety of ways.
Step 1
My ingredients
- 4 small firm eggplants
- Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 1 grated onion
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- One bottle tomato sauce (la salsa oppure il pomodoro fresco) or 2 X 500 g tomatoes or 2 kg fresh ripe tomatoes
- Lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil ( I use my balcony grown basil)
- Salt & pepper
- Your favourite frying oil
- Tip: mozzarella cheese and mortadella in this recipe is quite popular in Bari, but I keep my parmigiana simple.
Step 2
How to proceed
- Dégorge: treat with salt to remove excess liquid. This process removes any bitterness and prevents them from becoming soggy when cooked. Peel the eggplants with a vegetable peeler.Slice about 1cm thick, score and sprinkle with salt. Leave on a plate or colander for about 20 minutes for the liquid to run off. Wash off excess salt and dry with paper towels.
Language bites: like most foods it can be countable or uncountable. What are countable and uncountable nouns?
Countable = anything that can be counted. The four small eggplants are purple and shiny.
Uncountable = anything that cannot be counted. There is some cheese on the table.
- Peel and grate the onion.
- Make the sauce: place a pan on medium heat with about 4 tablespoons EVOO, add the onion and lightly brown for about 5 minutes then add tomatoes and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes. Make sure to season sauce with salt,pepper and basil leaves.
- Language & Culture bites: the word basil comes from the ancient Greek “basilikhon” which means royal; Greece: eggplant is an important ingredient in moussaka.
- Beat the eggs and add a pinch of salt.
- Dip the eggplant first in flour then in egg and fry.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Fry until golden brown
Step 3
Assemble
- Ladle a little sauce in the bottom of a pan.
- Sprinkle parmesan.
- Place the first layer of batter-fried eggplants on top of the sauce and cheese.
- Add more sauce and cheese.
- Repeat layering.
- Bake for about 30 minutes in a 180°C (350°F) oven until top layer turns golden brown.
The beauty of art
Madame eggplant
“Madame X” John Singer Sargent, 1883 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) /// “Madame Eggplant” Maryann Lucas, 2017, (Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor)
Sargent’s Madame X cuts through a monochromatic backdrop with a strong confident woman in an alluring black gown. Lucas’s Madame Eggplant pops out of a grey backdrop, gleaming in rich hues of black, purple, and blue along the perennial’s illumined ample curves. The Eggplant is again personified not only in its upright posture and feminine buxomness, but the green-cap where body meets vine can insist one to be reminded of Madame X’s dramatic ‘V’ neckline of her gown.
Source: https://grenninggallery.com/madame-eggplant-a-nod-to-john-singer-sargentrce:
