Recipes

Sweet Tea’s Eggplant Parmigiana

Sweet Tea 19/01/2021 no Comments

See some notes at the bottom 😉

Sweet Tea’s Eggplant Parmigiana

This is not "traditional" but, this is how we eat it in my family!

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 45

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 large eggplants sliced about 1/4″ thick
2 tablespoons cup extra-virgin olive oil
Gops seasoning
1 shallot finely chopped
2 cloves garlic pressed or minced
¼ cup tomato paste
28 ounces crushed tomatoes
¼ cup roughly chopped fresh basil plus additional basil for garnish
2 tablespoons Sicilian Spice
Pinch of red pepper flakes
about 1 1/2 cups fresh mozzarella
1-2 cups fresh grated parmigiana
2-3 cooked Italian sausages cooked and thinly sliced or 1/4 pound mortadella, sliced thin

Instructions

Grill the eggplant:

Season both sides of the eggplant slices with gops and place either on a grill, or a griddle. Cook until golden and tender, flipping them so they do not burn.
Pre-heat the oven to 375F.

Make the tomato sauce:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat up 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the shallot and a pinch of gops. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is very tender then add the garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté until fragrant.
Add the tomato paste and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add the crushed tomatoes, sicilian spice and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sauce has thickened about 15 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the chopped basil, taste and adjust seasonings.

Assembly:

Spread about 1 big ladle of the sauce in the bottom of a casserole pan.
Arrange the eggplant slices over the sauce, overlapping slightly.
Spoon more sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle generously with Parmigiana cheese.
Arrange another layer of eggplant slices evenly on top.
Add the cut up sausages or mortadella and place the sliced up mozzarella over the sausages.
Spread sauce on top and sprinkle with parmigiana.
Layer the remaining eggplant slices on top and top with the remaining sauce.
Generously and evenly sprinkle the Parmesan on top.
Bake uncovered, until the sauce bubbles and the top is golden, about 25 to 35 minutes.
Let it cool for at least 15 minutes to give it time to set.
Cut with a knife, plate and enjoy!

Notes

You can make this with sausages or Mortadella, I prefer mortadella, but if you have left over grilled sausages you can use those as well.
Homemade Sicilian Spice: https://sweetteaitalia.com/2020/04/sicilian-spice.html

Gops Seasoning: https://sweetteaitalia.com/2020/04/house-seasoning-gops.html

Traditional eggplant is without the mozzarella and sausage. But, I.Love.Cheese end of story. If you want classic Eggplant parm. just make this recipe without the mozzarella and meat.

However, If you do like mortadella and eggplant together, you will love this. I prefer to use mortadella but, I had leftover grilled sausages I needed to use.