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Lasagna and Eggplant Parm Had a Child, and It Is Wonderful

Why It Works

  • Salting the eggplant removes water, guaranteeing a lasagna that is silky, not moist.
  • Blotting the contemporary mozzarella and fried eggplant properly with towels removes extra extra moisture.
  • A easy tomato sauce delivers perfect contemporary and fruity taste to the lasagna.

There is a transient interval yearly when many of the summer season’s greatest produce overlaps with a lot of what’s to come back within the fall and winter. Piles of pink tomatoes sit alongside mounds of contemporary, crisp apples, and onerous winter squash mingle with bell peppers and eggplant. I would not need to ever have to choose my one favourite time of the yr—all of them have their place—but when I needed to, it would be onerous to not single out this quick but considerable shoulder-season as probably the most wonderful.

Severe Eats / Amanda Suarez


That is additionally a time of yr when temperatures drop and cravings for extra comforting, filling meals hit. On this second, I can not consider a greater dish to make than lasagna alla Norma, which is an al forno (“baked”) spin on the famous Sicilian pasta that includes summertime stars like eggplant and tomatoes together with contemporary dairy comparable to ricotta or mozzarella (some recipes for this lasagna use one, some the opposite—I take advantage of each). It is the proper solution to benefit from the final of summer season’s produce in a means that feels suited to the autumn.

Whereas this recipe is usually often known as lasagna alla Norma (or lasagna alla Catanese, after the town of Catania the place alla Norma is alleged to originate), I discover it simply as helpful to consider it as a mashup between eggplant Parmigiana and lasagna, given its alternating layers of fried eggplant, tomato sauce, cheese, and pasta. On a technical degree, this Parmigiana mindset is extra helpful in figuring out the easiest way to make the dish.

Severe Eats / Amanda Suarez


Once I was working years in the past on my recipe for Italian-style eggplant parm (melanzane alla Parmigiana), I made it the best way I might realized to make it much more years in the past whereas engaged on farms in Italy: I sliced contemporary summer season eggplant, fried it in oil, then layered it with contemporary mozzarella, and a easy contemporary tomato sauce. It is my most well-liked solution to make it, far more than the breaded Italian-American model—the result’s silky and aromatic, not heavy with breading.

Severe Eats / Amanda Suarez


However over time, some feedback popped up on the recipe complaining a few watery outcome. This stumped me—it’d by no means occurred to me earlier than, not on the farm, and never again at dwelling in New York. Finally I noticed sufficient feedback of this type that I revisited my recipe and in addition had it cross-tested by one among my take a look at kitchen colleagues (she reported nice outcomes). Ultimately, I up to date the recipe barely with some small technical changes to assist cut back potential wetness, all of which I am making use of to this recipe as properly. They’re:

  • Salt the eggplant. My lifelong expertise is that the majority in-season eggplant doesn’t should be salted. It isn’t bitter, which is commonly given as the explanation to salt, and I haven’t got any points with the way it cooks when unsalted. However even a quick salting does pull out a few of the eggplant’s water, and if wetness was a problem for some cooks at dwelling, it appeared like a logical step so as to add to my parmigiana recipe, and to this one. Consider it as an insurance coverage coverage towards undesirable wetness.
  • Drain properly after frying. This was a step in my unique recipe for the parm, however I rewrote the directions to emphasise how essential it’s to blot the fried eggplant slices properly to take away extra oil. Oil is not water, after all, however an abundance of it might in idea give the impression of a too-wet dish.
  • Keep away from skinny tomato sauce. This too was much less a technical change to my recipe and extra a rephrasing of what was already there, stressing extra clearly the significance of utilizing a sauce that’s not too skinny and watery. It does not should be thick like tomato paste by any means, however you desire a sauce that, whereas contemporary and vibrant and fruity, can also be thick with the fruit’s pure fiber, very like an excellent apple sauce.
  • Blot the mozz. I strongly want actual, contemporary mozzarella to the low-moisture stuff, despite the fact that it isn’t pretty much as good of a melter and may launch water when it does soften. It has a clear, milky taste that comes by within the ultimate dish and considerably improves it, making it miles higher than any of the low-moisture mozzarella cheeses that normally get beneficial in these sorts of recipes. So, what to do about that wateriness? Easy: I simply seize a clear kitchen towel and blot the cheese properly to absorb extra water. That appears to do the trick.

With all the above changes, I am assured my melanzane alla Parmigiana recipe is not going to come out watery for anybody, and I can say the identical for this lasagna, which makes use of all the identical methods, simply with some pasta layered in for good measure.

Severe Eats / Amanda Suarez


The result’s unbelievable, with flavors and textures that strike as each summery and autumnal on the similar time. Although, for all my speak in regards to the seasons, I will be sincere: I might fortunately eat this any time of yr.

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