Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Messy Indie Cooking Series: Vol. 1

This is an easy, fast and delicious dish! It's a Neapolitan dish with eggplants, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parmigiano (Parmesan) cheese and some fresh basil. For this recipe you will need 2 small eggplants (10-15cm long or a big one), 3 tomatoes, mozzarella cheese slices and freshly grated Parmesan, ground black pepper and salt to season. Optional: some garlic powder and half a leek.

Start by washing the eggplants and cutting them into slices with skin, not to thick and not too thin, around 0,5 cm thick. Place a kitchen towel on your cooking table, start by covering the towel space with the eggplants and sprinkle some salt on them. Then cover the eggplants with another sheet of kitchen towel and leave it to rest. (This will make all the bitterness of the eggplants disappear when you cook them).

While you leave the eggplants, start by chopping your tomatoes into small cubes, also if you are using the leek, cut it into small rounds. Place the whole in a bowl and mix with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some fresh chopped basil. Here I chose to work with purple basil as to match with the eggplants. :) Sprinkle some pepper and salt and some garlic powder if desired.

By the time you're done you can begin mounting the eggplants in one of those Pyrex glass dishes made for cooking. You begin by covering the bottom of the dish with a thick layer of olive oil, then place the eggplants one by one on it, On them apply the tomato cubes and leeks rounds. After than apply the mozzarella slices and a bit of the Parmesan. You should repeat these layers until you run out of ingredients. Always starting by the eggplants and finish with the cheese on top.

The result should look like this:

Put in the oven at medium heat for at least 40 minutes. You can serve this dish with some rice if desired. But alone will definitely delight your palate.