Italian culinary delights: recipe for "Melanzane alla parmigiana" step by step!!! - #Preparation

Why I ended up posting a recipe?

Berlin Saturday the 23rd - Leydicke Bar, one of the oldest ones in town.
While sipping a beer, Frieda, one of my girl's good friends, asks me bits of advice for an Italian typical dish: "Melanzane alla parmigiana", or shortly "Parmigiana", which is actually my favorite.

What is it about? It's something which looks like a "Lasagna", made with aubergines instead of "Pasta" and a few other differences. Sicilians claim it comes from their region, as well as Neapolitans or people from Parma, but who cares so far, it's delicious and that's all we need to know.

"Tomorrow I have to do it for lunch, - I told Frieda - So I can take pictures step by step and write everything down!"
But then, why not share it with all of you? So I decided to put some more efforts and write down the recipe I've learned from my mother, even though mum's Parmigiana tastes always better, don't ask me why =)

I divided this recipe into two sections: #Preparation and #Creation
There are plenty of ways to do it, this is a simple one which doesn't require so much effort except a decent amount of time.

Ingredients

Here's what we need to fill up our baking tray with, which should be enough for 4 to 6 people.

• 2.5Kg of fresh aubergines
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Fresh basil
• A small onion
• 6 small peeled tomato cans (400g)
• Chilli pepper (optional)
• Fry Oil
• Mozzarella
• Parmesan cheese (300g)
• Cheese (Scamorza and Caciocavallo, but if you don't find Italian products also Gouda or sth similar might work)
• Breadcrumbs

And now let's get started!

Aubergines: #preparation

Cut them as shown in the picture, or a bit thinner, but not too subtle because they can easily burn while frying.
Put two fingers of fry oil in a pan, wait until it warms up properly and then, start frying: 3 to 5 min each side and then place them on a tray with blotting paper on the bottom and sprinkle a bit of salt on top (don't overdo!). Repeat the procedure over and over again, until you fried them all.

Important: don't try to squeeze them - you'll likely mush them or they can be stuck together with the paper) - just place another layer of blotting paper on top instead, and the gravity will do the rest =) The whole process may take a few hours and that's the result:

Grandma tip: Fry everything the day before and let them "rest" overnight. A larger quantity of oil will be absorbed and the entire dish will be easier to digest.

Sauce preparation

The sauce must be really simple and sweet, therefore we're going to use just a few ingredients.

Cut one onion into small pieces as shown in the picture.

Place a saucepan on the stove, add a base of olive oil, wait until it's hot. Then, add the onion (and a bit of chilli pepper if you like it a bit spicy) and let it fry for (maximum) a couple of minutes.

For each tomato can, add some water (approx. 1/3 of a jar) and put everything in the pot, together with a big spoon of salt and some fresh basil leaves. The extra water added will evaporate while cooking, so the sauce will not be too dense. Let it cook for at least one hour with a low flame (if you're using a gas stove) or with a mid temperature with an electric one.

Now we have everything we need, so let's keep going with our #creation in
the following post!

Click here for the ITALIAN version!