Parmigiana

My Nonna had many delicious meals that she cooked for us. Recipe's brought over from her home town of Molfetta, Italy. Meals made with her own very special touch. She took her time, she cooked with perfection, attention to detail and lots of love. It seemed that she never made a mistake, nothing was ever over cooked or under cooked. Her seasoning was always spot on and there was always plenty for all of us.
I have great respect for all the meals my Nonna made for us, but there is one that is my favourite, Parmigiana.

 It was not one of the traditional family Sunday night dinners we had. It was  generally more something she made as the first meal when our family from Melbourne was visiting, or perhaps just as a weekday lunch for her & my Babbo. But I was always so excited when I walked to the front door and smelt that very distinct aroma. "Yes!" "Nonna's made Parmigiana."

If it was because my cousins had arrived from interstate for the school holidays it made life even sweeter. It meant a week of spending as much time as possible with all of my cousins whom I love very much. It meant many, many games of cards, sleep overs, pillow fights, walks to our secret spot near the river and many memories made . But, first it meant lunch and all of us squeezed into that warm dining room. Sitting around the table wherever we fitted and then, Parmigiana.

This is my re-creation of Nonna's Parmigiana. Taught to me by my mum & also by watching my Nonna make it at times. 

Ingredients:

Sauce
Olive oil
1 x brown onion, sliced thinly
4 x bottles of passata (Ideally I would use our home made bottled tomato sauce, which my Nonna & mum used. Unfortunately I have none available where I live now)
Salt to taste

Eggplants
2 x large eggplants or 3 x medium eggplants
salt for salting eggplant slices
plain flour
approximately 6 - 8 eggs (depends on size of eggs)
1/2 a bunch of continental parsley, leaves removed and chopped finely
finely grated Parmesan cheese, approximately 100 grams
3 grinds of pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
mixture of olive oil and vegetable oil for frying

500 grams of a good quality penne pasta

Methods:

To make tomato sauce, add enough olive oil to cover the base of a heavy based saucepan.
Heat oil to bubbling point without letting it burn.
Add onions to hot oil, and stir vigorously coating all of the onions with the hot oil.
Put lid on saucepan and remove saucepan from heat keeping lid on tight.
 Let onions sit in saucepan with no heat for a few minutes, using steam to cook the onions down. Return saucepan to heat, remove lid, give a good stir.
 Let heat build up again, return lid to saucepan and remove from heat keeping lid on tight for a few minutes letting steam cook onions down.
 Repeat this process until onions are clear and melted down.
 This can take up to 1/2 an hour, keeping a check on the onions each time you return pot to the heat and making sure you do not burn them.
This process is called sweating onions and is the way my Nonna would start any of her tomato sauces. Taking the time to do this properly gets the best results.
Once onions are melted down, add the passata. Add a little water to empty bottles of passata, put lids on and shake and pour into pot. Stir through, and bring to the boil. Season with salt to taste, turn heat down and simmer for 1 - 2 hours. Stir periodically to ensure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the saucepan.

While sauce is simmering, top, tail and peel each eggplant. Slice the eggplant into medium thick slices.

Place eggplant slices into a colander sitting in a large bowl and salt each slice. Place a plate on top of eggplant slices and weight it down, I use my mortar & pestle sitting on top of the plate. This takes any bitterness out of the eggplant and gives them a great texture. After about an hour you will see a good amount of dark liquid has drained into the bowl. At this point rinse the eggplant, pat dry with paper towel and dust each piece in flour.

Next, in a large bowl add eggs, parsley, salt & pepper. Use a fork to whisk eggs lightly and combine all the ingredients. Add enough Parmesan to create a batter that is thick enough to stick to the eggplant. This is where you need to adjust the amount of egg and cheese you use to achieve a batter consistancy.
Add a mixture of olive oil and vegetable oil to a large fry pan, about 2 cm's thick. Heat oil until bubbling, coat the floured eggplant in the batter and then fry each piece until lightly golden. Drain on paper towel.
If egg & parmesan batter becomes too thick as you are frying the eggplant, add another beaten egg or even a little milk to thin out mixture a little.

Bring a pot of water to the boil and add a teaspoon of salt and 500 grams of penne pasta.

Cook pasta until aldente and then drain the water. Pour pasta back into pot, add a little sauce and mix through to keep pasta from sticking together.

Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

To assemble Parmigiana, place a few ladle fulls of sauce into the bottom of a large baking dish. Then put a layer of battered eggplant and top that with some tomato sauce. Next put a layer of penne pasta, a layer of eggplant and some more sauce. Repeat process until all ingredients are used but make sure you finish on a layer of eggplant topped with a thick layer of sauce.

Place in oven and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until all the flavours are combined and cooked together but be careful not to burn the top.

Serves a large family, or a small family with left overs.