Aubergine parmigiana recipe | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

How to cook aubergine Jamie Oliver? ›

Method. Prick the aubergines, then carefully blacken them over a direct flame on the hob (or under the grill), turning with tongs until soft inside. Meanwhile, toast the sesame seeds in a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat until golden, tossing regularly.

Aubergine Parmigiana (Melanzane alla Parmigiana)

Great served with all sorts of roasted meats and with roasted fish as well.

Reduce the sugo (tomato sauce) enough to a thick consistency - this will prevent the eggplant parmigiana from becoming too watery/saucy.

Aubergine is usually cut into slices, cubes or strips and cooked in a little oil before being added to sauces, as this gives it a much better texture. For a crisp surface, the slices are dusted in flour or fine polenta first.

Salt it.

Regardless, sprinkling a good amount of salt over eggplant slices or cubes before they're cooked does draw out some of its moisture and lessens the bitterness. Let them sit for about an hour and then lightly rinse some of the salt off before cooking.

One of the secrets to cooking tender-but-never-mushy eggplant is salt. First, Stilo cuts her eggplant into the desired shape (rounds, cubes, planks, etc.), and then sprinkles the eggplant evenly with a generous amount of salt.

It's likely just been exposed to air and is experiencing enzymatic browning. An eggplant with brown spots is not safe to eat if it contains bugs or mold or exhibits other signs of spoilage. It should be thrown out.

Do you have to peel eggplant before you cook it? The peel of an eggplant is completely edible. However, as the eggplant grows bigger and matures, the peel may become tough and bitter. People often prefer to peel larger eggplants because of this, but smaller eggplants do just fine unpeeled.

Modern eggplant has had bitterness nearly bred out of it, so many cooks have given up the practice. Salting the slices for eggplant Parmesan is not to prevent bitter flavors, but to season the eggplant itself and, at least in my experience, keep the eggplant from sucking up too much of the olive oil from frying.

How thick should you cut eggplant for eggplant Parmesan? ›

Eggplant (US, CA, AU, NZ, PH), aubergine (UK, IE), brinjal (IN, SG, MY, ZA), or baigan (GY) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Solanum melongena is grown worldwide for its edible fruit.

Chiefly British. eggplant. a dark purplish color.

In the past, recipes called for aubergines to be sliced and salted before cooking to reduce their bitterness. As modern varieties are much less bitter, that is no longer necessary, unless you're planning to fry them – aubergines soak up oil like a sponge and salting helps reduce that.

If it's an extra-large eggplant, the vegetable could be older and the skin tougher, therefore, it's a smart idea to peel it. But small, young eggplant have thin, tender skins that add great texture to the vegetable when cooked.

Today, eggplants are bred not to have that kind of bitterness," Jenkins explains. She does call out one outlier though. "The only exception is when you deep fry it. I tend to soak the slices in a bowl of water with a couple of tablespoon of salt for about 30-45 minutes.

Salting versus brining

It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream. To salt, just slice the eggplant into rounds, scatter 1 teaspoon of salt on top, leave for 30 minutes, then pat dry. Brining (soaking in salted water) will do the same job but also make the flesh super creamy.

You might know them as eggplants or you might know them as aubergines, but they are exactly the same plant. The English prefer the latter name, while in North America we use the former.