La Parmegiana

This is the parmegiana version made with courgettes

Ingredients
4 aubergines or 8 medium Courgettes
2 eggs
100g of plain flour
75g parmesan cheese
1 ltr fresh tomato sauce
Lots of fresh basil leaves
150g mozzarella
Olive oil
Sea salt

Optional
2 Hard boiled eggs
2 thin slices Mortadella Ham
30 Mini meat balls

Quantity: 4 persons

Dish: Use a metal lasagna dish/meat tin…for this amount of ingredients I use a 33cmx20cm and 5½cm deep.

Preparation

1. Wash the aubergines/courgettes and slice them lengthways ½cm thick.
   For the aubergine version, put the aubergines on a board and sprinkle them with sea salt and leave them to rest for an hour to lose their bitterness and a bit of moisture.
2. In the meantime make the fresh tomato sauce (alternatively, I have used a mixture of 680g bottle Passata and 350g Tomato & Basil Sauce, the Loyd Grossman one works very well!!).
3. Rinse the aubergine slices well of the sea salt and dry them off, cover the aubergines or courgettes with flour and then dip them in the beaten egg making sure they’re well covered and fry them in olive oil.
4. Lay them out carefully on kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil.
5. In a large shallow dish layer the aubergines/courgettes with a layer of tomato sauce, a sprinkle of parmesan, basil leaves and slices of mozzarella (you can also add mini meat balls, Mortadella, small pieces of hard boiled eggs).
6. Before making the last layer with tomato sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan, just with the palms of your hands push down firmly on the whole thing so as to compact all the ingredients nice and tightly.
7. Put in a pre-heated oven at 180°C to cook for approx. an hour.
8. Leave to rest out of the oven for approx 20 mins before serving otherwise it will just be a floppy mess.
9. Great served with a green side salad.

A little bit about La Parmegiana Classica

Contrary to popular belief, la Parmigiana, does not originate from Parma nor does the name come from using Parmigiano (Parmesan cheese). The name is from “parmiciàna” which is the name given to a type of window with four shutters which are “layered” one on top of the other, like the aubergines are layered in this dish. Also, even just 50 years ago, parmesan cheese was considered a luxury cheese and la Parmigiana has always been a very popular dish for the poor and was prepared with local cheeses such as strong caciacavallo.

It is believed that this dish has its roots in Greece and was brought to Italy with the introduction of the aubergine to Salento, Calabria and Sicily, a theory which is substantiated by the existence of the Greek Mussaka, a dish very similar to Parmiggiana.

The traditional version is made with aubergines but the courgette version has become very popular as well.