Nightshade Season

EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

One of my favourite late summer dishes is Eggplant Parmigiana (from my first book Wholefood - heal, nourish, delight) – it always makes a welcome appearance at this time of the year. Do you steer away from this hardy and abundant vegetable because you're just a little scared of it? It does have that  rather intimidating reputation of being bitter and requiring salting - giving you extra work and preparation for good measure. But you know, I don’t think I’ve ever found a well grown eggplant, that when picked immediately ripe and not left on the bush for the seed to develop, to be bitter. And there - in lies the key. Eggplant must be picked when just ripe and not a minute later, with a bright and lustrous skin and firm flesh. I only salt an eggplant if it is older and has a lot of seed development, but you know a good grower or retailer shouldn’t be selling you an older one. And that’s all the more reason to make this now, as this is the time they are just perfect - their 15 minutes of fame.

You can see how little seed development there is in these beautiful, large eggplants.

This is also the season of nightshades –this vegetable family includes the potato, capsicum, tomato and eggplant, and are high in alkaloids that affect the way we absorb calcium. When you look at most traditional dishes made with these vegetables they generally include a rich calcium source – most often dairy. When you cannot include milk or cheese, make sure you provide plentiful calcium in other ways – such as sea vegetables, and bone (including fish) stocks. In a vegan diet especially, or a dairy free diet, nightshades should be eaten with caution, if you have no rich calcium source to pair them with.

Essentially, the parmigiana consists of eggplant coated in a bread - crumb mix, (you can alternatively just use the maize flour as I prefer to do, and is in the photo below), fried in olive oil then layered with a tomato sauce and topped with cheese and baked. I love how the maize flour gives some heft to the end result - no need for any other grain or bread for serving. It can also be made by  baking or grilling eggplant slices and thus reducing the fat used. I cook both, with a preference for the traditional frying - it gives it a far deeper flavour. I would serve this with a large Greek salad, loaded with greens, olives and lots of garlic. A predominantly nightshade dish ( eggplants and tomatoes), it is traditionally paired with cheese, which buffers the effects of the nightshades. For a dairy free option, you could include tofu ricotta. You won't have cheese on top, but it will still come out of the oven looking gorgeous - just sprinkle it with some fresh parsley to balance the colour. 

Thick eggplant slices wet from a bowl of water, then tossed in a mix of Maize (Golden Corn Flour - I use the Kialla brand), dried basil and generous salt and pepper.

Fried and draining

Base layer, with fetta and fresh basil, awaiting one more layer of eggplant

Ready for the oven

The key to this dish is time - time to make a good tomato sauce and time to let the eggplant fry. I either make the sauce from scatch (lots of tomatoes around right now) or use tomatoes from a can. My latest fave are the Organic Crushed Roma Tomatoes from Spiral.  I love that they are in glass, already well cooked and dark in colour but feel guilty when I do, as there are all those fresh tomatoes around right now. Both recipes are in my book Wholefood - heal, nourish, delight, but it's very easy.

Splosh a bit of oil in a saucepan (I sometimes add ghee or butter), chop up an onion ( I like purple), lots of garlic, LOTS of fresh basil, let them gently saute for 10 mins until really, really lovely and lightly golden, then add tomatoes - the Spiral jar is 709gms worth. Rinse out the jar with a little water, add 1 - 4 teaspoons something sweet to balance acidity (Rapadura, Apple Juice Concentrate or juice) and leave to cook  s l o w l y for 1 - 1/2 hour, stirring often, until thick and gorgeous. If you are using fresh tomatoes, skin them first if you like, then chop them and add to the pot. Don't be tempted to add extra liquid - cover with a lid and leave over a very, very gentle heat until all the juices have sweated out - approx 20 - 30 minutes, then on you go as above. 

One thing - you'll notice two different dishes - I forgot to take a picture of the first one when cooked ! But, you will see they are both cast iron. Really, a dish makes a huge difference, and if you can do this in cast iron, you'll get a better end result as the sauces bubbles and reduces at the hot edges brilliantly. As noted, there is a bit of time involved in making the whole dish, but it makes a lot - the recipe below makes enough to serve 2 - 4. But I go all out, and do extra (I made the two dishes worth you see here, with one large sauce batch and one fry up session), as I love left over parmigiana. Honestly it just gets better and is so good for lunch the next day. 

EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA 

vegetarian and gluten free

2 good size eggplants - the purple globe variety

1  cup approx maize flour 

1 teaspoon dried basil

generous sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups approx tomato sauce

handful of good melting cheese

sprinkle of parmesan or pecorino cheese

Prepare your eggplants.

If the eggplants have been salted, wash the eggplant slices well in water. Shake the excess water off them, but don’t pat them dry with a towel - the wetness of the eggplant helps stick the flour on. Mix the maize flour and dried basil together (or alternatively just 1 cup maize flour and the basil) in a dish and pat the flour mixture on both sides of the eggplant - you can be quite generous. If you havn’t salted the eggplant, simply wet them as described above, to help stick the flour.

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a frypan over a moderate heat. Use only enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Eggplant will soak up as much oil as you give it, so you are going to have to be the one in control here. Don’t heat the oil to smoking point - check for readiness by dropping a little of the flour in it - if it sizzles, it is ready.

Place as many pieces of eggplant as you can fit in one layer, in the pan. Cook over a moderate heat until the slice is golden, then turn and continue on the other side. When you turn the slices, you may have to add a little more oil. It is best to let the cooking happen slowly, but with sizzle - each side takes approx 5 -10 minutes. I tend to agree with Antonnio Carluccio: he says that as you fry eggplant, they will initially absorb all the fat you give them, then look dry and in danger of burning. His advice, is to keep the heat low and don't add any extra. As they cook, they will start to release juice and a little oil to provide a good cooking environment. As the slices are ready, leave them to drain on a paper towel while you do the others. You may need to wipe the pan out between every second batch or so - discarding any old oil and flour.

Putting It All Together

Pre Heat Oven to 180c or 165c if fan forced

Using a fairly shallow baking dish, cover the bottom with some of the tomato sauce. Place a layer of slices over this, overlapping them a little. Sprinkle a little freshly ground black pepper and cover with more sauce (but you can see in the picture I decided to add a little fetta cheese and fresh basil here also) then another layer of eggplant slices, then the remaining sauce and sprinkle with a little cheese. Bake  for approx 50 - 60 minutes, or until the top is golden and the sauce is bubbling.

Try Using: 

Roasted red capsicum strips 

Beat together ricotta cheese and egg (approx 1 egg to each 125 gm ricotta) and layer between eggplant.

Tofu ricotta layered between eggplant (you'll find this recipe in Wholefood - heal, nourish, delight)