The truth is, Eggplant Parmesan cooked Italy just tastes better than it does when eaten at home.  This fact perplexed me at first, but then when I learned this dish the true southern Italian way, it all began to make sense.  First off, to me the local produce of this area has a more complex flavor—the basil is sweeter, the tomatoes actually burst in your mouth with juiciness, and the eggplant are smaller but richer in flavor as well.

Next, onto cooking the eggplant.  When I have made this dish before I have lightly breaded the eggplant and baked the slices until tender.  Perfectly acceptable method to cook the eggplant, but not as delicious as—you guessed it—frying the eggplant in sunflower oil.  If you have ever cooked eggplant before you know what I mean when I say that it absorbs any kind of liquid that it comes into contact with.  It is like the vegetable equivalent of a sponge.  So, when you fry the rounds of eggplant, each slice absorbs the sunflower oil which in part, results in tender, very tasty eggplant.

One of the best parts of anything ‘parmesan’ is obviously the cheese.  Salty parmesan cheese and creamy mozzarella cheese are found in each layer of this dish, as well as Parmesan sprinkled on top as the final flavor enhancer before baking.  An interesting fact about the fresh mozzarella cheese in Italy versus what we can buy in the United States is that the water that the mozzarella cheese is packed in here does not contain extra salt; this results in a pure, creamy cheese whose taste is smoother than what we are used to because it lacks that extra salty bite from the brine.  The last secret to this area’s magnificent Eggplant Parmesan is of course the sauce.  Nothing against store-bought jarred tomato sauces, but when put up against a quick, homemade tomato sauce like they constantly have brewing on the stove here, no contest on which one wins the taste test for flavor, freshness, and utter deliciousness.

So, just like the equations we learned to solve in algebra class, all of these factors, when added together, equal the best tasting Eggplant Parmesan you have ever eaten.  Just like most other dishes in this country’s cookbook, always cook with the best fresh, locally grown ingredients you can find.  Whether cooking in Italy or at home in the United States, this mantra always holds true.

 

 

 

(To view this recipe, click on the blue blog post title above*)

Tagged: basil, culinary school, eggplant, eggplant parmesan, externship, Italy, Mami Camilla cooking school, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, Sorrento, tomato sauce