Ingredients
4 large aubergines (1 – 1 1/4 kilo, cut into washers, about ½-1 cm thick)
1 cup flour
4 eggs lightly beaten on a plate
4 cups breadcrumbs
1 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 cup grated mozzarella
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 small handful of chopped basil leaves (optional)
Salt and pepper
Tomato sauce:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, grated
2 cans (2 x 400 g) chopped tomatoes
1 full spoonful chopped basil
Salt and pepper
Method
Step 1:
Choose the 24 best, biggest aubergines, sprinkle with salt and keep them in a strainer for about ½ hour. Then rinse and drain well. Meanwhile, prepare the tomato sauce: Heat the oil in a medium pot and saute the onion in a low heat until it is softened. Add the garlic, stir it for a few seconds and put in the tomatoes. Boil the heat, season and boil the sauce until it binds, for about 10-15 minutes. Finally, stir in the basil.
Step 2:
Preheat the oven to 220 ° C and put 1 oven baking sheet in aluminum foil warm. Put the flour with ½ teaspoon of pepper in a plastic bag and then shake it. In a bowl, put the breadcrumbs with 1 cup of parmesan and ½ teaspoon of pepper and stir well. Empty half the mixture on a plate and keep aside.
Step 3:
Take 12 eggplant slices (the larger ones), put them in the bag with the flour and shake them. Then shake them to remove all the flour, add them into the whipped eggs and then wrap them in the parmesan breadcrumbs, pressing the mixture to stick well. Keep them in a tray and repeat the same with the rest of the aubergines using the rest of the parmesan-breadcrumbs that you held aside. Spread them into the hot pan of the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Turn them on and continue the same for another 10 minutes. (Allow the oven to light up).
Step 4:
Spread 1/3 of the sauce to the bottom of a refractory pan to comfortably place the 12 biggest eggplant slices. Spread half of the rest of the sauce over the aubergines (not until the edges remain crisp) and scoop up half a mozzarella. Then, put the remaining eggplant slices (one above each washer) over the rest of the sauce and then sprinkle with the remaining parmesan (1/4 cup).
Step 5:
Bake the parmesan aubergines for 15 minutes in the oven until melted and brown the cheese, add the chopped basil leaves and leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
By Nina Theocharidou
