Melanzane e patate al forno

Melanzane e patate al forno

I wrote this post back in the early summer or so but never got around to submitting it. A recent query about eggplants, together with the impending passing of summer, has reminded to get this and some other posts related to summer vegetables out.

*

• Make a tomato sauce with olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and basil.
• Boil some waxy potatoes and when they've cooled off, slice them.*
• Slice some eggplant and fry the slices in olive oil.
• Put a little tomato sauce in the bottom of a baking dish; then add a layer of potato and a little more sauce. Next, add a layer of eggplant, sauce, a sprinkle of parmigiano or romano cheese. Alternate layer until the ingredients are used up but finish with some sauce, fresh cheese (mozzarella, fior di latte, tuma) and some fresh basil.
• Bake in the oven until the cheese begins to brown.

Note I use no coating on the eggplant here (no flour, eggwash, breadcrumbs... no nothin').
* Variation: You can use starchy potatoes and slice them and fry them until golden, in which case it resembles a little bit more the Balearic tumbet. Quite tasty but there's a little more oil added to the dish.









Oily it should be but if the oil is good, that's not a problem, rather a virtue. One doesn't eat lots of this sort of dish at one sitting in any event. A light salad and a piece of bread turn a small square into a nice lunch or a good secondo to follow a simple and neither tomatoey nor cheesy primo.

Antonius


Links to other recipes and cooking notes by this writer: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=55649#55649

There should be a quota. Really.

Certain unnamed people with a flair for writing, cooking, and illustrating con pitture (:oops: I know, I know, it means paintings...but Italian is not my language) should be limited to a small number of posts per year. Otherwise I'm gonna have to install a permanent bib to keep the drooling from becoming (even more) embarrassing.

Thank you, A, for yet another absolutely enticing post. And yet another in the book-length volume of your recipes that I am collecting and, one day, hope to make.

Delizioso.