Aubergine parmigiana: roasted instead of fried
An aubergine is like a sponge: fried, it soaks up oil like few other vegetables, which is why traditional parmigiana can be heavy and greasy. The solution is simple: the slices are roasted, after salting to draw out water. The result is very similar — soft, concentrated aubergine with browned edges — with far less fat. The sauce meanwhile stays deliberately plain: tomato, garlic, basil.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Aubergine salting 30 min
- Roasting the slices 50 min
- Sauce and layering 15 min
- Baking 40 min
- Resting 20 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSalt the slices and wait
Cut the aubergines lengthwise into 8 mm slices. Lay them on a rack, salt both sides and leave 30 minutes. Dark beads of water appear on the surface. Pat the slices dry, pressing down, and brush off the excess salt.
Ingredients: 1200 g aubergines · 2 tsp salt · 6 tbsp olive oil
TipSalting does two things at once: it draws out water so the aubergine browns instead of steaming, and it <b>collapses the spongy flesh</b> so it absorbs less fat.
Thirty minutes, dark beads on the surfaceRoast instead of frying
Heat the oven to 220 °C. Spread the slices on trays in one layer, brush them with oil on both sides with a pastry brush, and roast 25 minutes at 220 °C, turning once. They should soften, shrink and brown at the edges. They will not all fit at once: roast in batches (with a fan oven, two trays at a time, swapping them halfway) — about 50 minutes in all.
TipThe brush matters: aubergine with oil poured over it soaks it up unevenly and it is easy to overdo. Six tablespoons for 1.2 kg of aubergine is ample when spread evenly.
Oil with a brush, twenty-five minutes at 220 °CCook a very plain sauce
While the aubergines salt and roast, make the sauce. Fry the crushed whole garlic in oil for 60 seconds, add the passata, sugar, salt and half the basil. Simmer 25 minutes over low heat, until thickened and darkened. Remove the garlic. Add no onion or other herbs — in parmigiana the sauce is a background.
Ingredients: 700 ml tomato passata · 3 cloves garlic · 3 tbsp olive oil · 20 pcs fresh basil · 1 tsp sugar · 1 tsp salt
Whole garlic, later removed; nothing moreDrain the mozzarella
Tear the mozzarella by hand and leave it in a sieve for 15 minutes to drain. This step is often skipped and is a common cause of a watery parmigiana — fresh mozzarella releases a fair amount of whey in the oven, and it runs straight into the dish.
Ingredients: 400 g mozzarella · 120 g parmesan
TipCutting with a knife gives smooth slices that melt into a uniform sheet. <b>Tearing by hand</b> leaves uneven pieces that melt in pockets and give a more interesting texture.
Build the layers
Turn the oven down to 190 °C. Spread a thin layer of sauce in a 22 × 30 cm dish. Then layer: aubergine, sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, basil — twice. The third and final layer is aubergine, sauce and parmesan only, no mozzarella: mozzarella on top dries out easily and turns rubbery.
Three layers, parmesan alone on topBake, and then wait
Bake 40 minutes at 190 °C, until the top is bubbling and browned in patches. Take it out and rest 20 minutes before cutting — this is not a suggestion. Hot parmigiana slumps across the plate; after twenty minutes it cuts into clean portions with visible layers.
Forty minutes, then twenty minutes' rest
Before you start
Better the next day
Like most layered bakes, parmigiana improves overnight — the flavours marry and the structure settles. Reheat 20 minutes at 180 °C, covered with foil for the first 15.
Is salting necessary
Modern varieties are rarely bitter, so salting is mainly about drawing out water, not bitterness. When roasting you can skip it at the cost of a slightly wetter bake — when frying it is strongly recommended.
With meat
Some home versions from southern Italy layer parmigiana with sliced ham or salami, or minced meat cooked into the sauce, and sometimes sliced hard-boiled eggs too. Every region and every family has its own opinion.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the name is disputed. One theory derives it from the Sicilian word parmiciana, the slats of a shutter, which the layered aubergine slices resemble; another from parmesan. The dish probably has little to do with Parma itself — it is associated above all with southern Italy.
