#eggplantparm #italianfood #noodlefreelasagna
Hello dear friends, today we’re going to make the OG gluten-free lasagna. Better known as “Eggplant Parmesan” but better spelled as “Eggplant Parmigiana”. It’s ok, I didn’t know either.
Ingredients:
Red Sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
6-12 anchovy fillets
1-3 hefty pinch of salt
1-2 shallots/onions
4-7 garlic cloves
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 cans of Italian (San Marzano for example) tomatoes
1 carrot
1 bunch of basil
leftover Parm rinds
1-2 cups of red wine
stock water or as needed
3 tbsp butter
Pesto:
1 bunch Basil or Arugula
1/4 cup Pine nuts
1/4 cup Parm/Pecorino
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 small garlic clove
5 cracks black pepper
1 wedge lemon juice
Ricotta:
6 cups 3.25% milk
2 cups 35% cream
5 tbsp white vinegar
3 tsp salt
1 eggplant
bread crumbs
Method:
Red Sauce:
– Add your olive oil and anchovies to a cold pan and bring up to medium heat so the anchovies disintegrate
– Add in your shallots and garlic (season with salt) and mix around so the garlic doesn’t burn (it burns if you leave) and cook it down slowly so the mix caramelizes.
– While that’s cooking, empty your prestigious tomatoes into a bowl and crush em up with your bare hands… proceed with caution, if you spill your seed you’ll make God cry.
– once your onion/garlic/anchovy base has caramelized, add in your tomato paste and mix around
– Deglaze the caramelized tomato paste from the pan using the evaporated moisture from the onions
– Add in your crushed tomatoes as well as your carrot, basil, parm rinds, and red wine.
– Bring it up to a boil then immediately back it down to a simmer and let it do that for an hour or two.
– Fish out the solids and add in some butter and blend it up to emulsify
Pesto:
– Simply add your ingredients (listed above) and blend, taking care to taste along the way and adjusting as you see fit. It’s hard to fuck up pesto, just don’t go crazy with any individual ingredient.
Ricotta:
– Bring your milk and cream up to just north of 200F and then toss in your salt and vinegar
– mix till incorporated and wait for 10 min
– pour into a cheesecloth-lined sieve, over a bowl to separate the curds from the whey
Eggplants:
– top and tail, then peel your eggplant
– cut it into 1 cm slices and salt them liberally
– let them rest for 30-45 min or until the salt has absorbed and drawn out some moisture
– pat the eggplant slices dry with some paper towels and bingo bango, yuh dun
Assembly:
– Layer your eggplant, ricotta, pesto, breadcrumbs, and red sauce.
– repeat until sufficiently layered and bake in a 325F oven for 30-60 min (depending on the strength of your oven) or until your saucy top has browned to your liking
Music:
Tarantella Napoletana – Traditional