Eggplant Pasticcio
Why I Love This Recipe
The recipe was given to me by a very nice lady I met this summer, during my summer holiday in Apulia (Italy).
It's so delicious, the eggplants simply melt in your mouth.
I made it with ham and cheese, but you can basicly add anything else, e.g. leftover boiled or roast chicken, or whatever you like. That is the whole point of "pasticcio" meaning a mess. But it's a wonderfully tasty mess.
Ingredients You'll Need
2 medium size eggplants
3-4 cloves of garlic
80 g ham
80-100 g mozzarella (or any other) cheese
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
3 tabelspoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 egg
Extra virgin olive oil
fresh basil or mint leaves
salt, pepper,
Directions
Peel the eggplants and cut into not too small pieces.
Warm up about 4-5 tablespoons of oil with the whole cloves of garlic in quite a big pot and add the eggplants.
Stir fry until they start getting softer.
Cover and cook at low heat until they are very tender. The amount should reduce to about 1/3.
Let them cool a little. I also meshed them, but very slightly, didn't exactly want to make eggplant puré.
Add all other ingredients: diced cheese and ham, the egg, 2 tblsp of breadcrumbs, 2 tblsp of Parmigiano and chopped basil or mint leaves. Add salt and pepper to your taste, you can also add some pepper flakes if you like it hot.
Pour the eggplant mixture into an oiled pan sprinkled with a tblsp of breadcrumbs (it should be at least 1" thick), level with a spoon.
Mix 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs and 1 tablespoon of grated Parmigiano cheese, sprinkle over the pasticcio and drizzle with little oil.
Bake in an oven preheated to 200°C for about 45 minutes, or until you have a nice crust in surface.
Let it cool and serve.
