Every region in Italy has developed its own variant. Many regions of Italy are trying to make the traditional character of this dish : Sicily ( Catania eggplant ), Calabria ( melangiani bend ) and Liguria boasts the best stuffed eggplant in the nation.
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| Freshly picked small (Italian) eggplants |
I would like to a boast about the casalese version. (buligname aripiene - dialect casalese). The difference is in the preparation and method of cooking. For starters, we do not cut the eggplant lengthwise, but skillfully carve them .
Carve the raw eggplants with a paring knife carefully removing the interior flesh so as not to break or puncture the small eggplants.
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| Cut off the stems |
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| Interior eggplant flesh |
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Carved eggplants in water    Filling consist of sausage meat, eggplant flesh, day-old bread crumbs, eggs, tomato, grated cheese, chopped basil and parsley.  Do not discard the thick crust left over from the day-old artisan loaf . I just love the crust with charred peppers or a fresh tomato and some extra-virgin olive oil.  Cooking stuffing  Eggplant draining upsidedown  |
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| Stuffed eggplants after sauteing - extra stuffing - stuff some peppers |
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| Finally, cooked in fresh tomatoes and ready to serve Vegetarian version - remove the meat. In fact, in Italy post World War II, we had meat once a week. This recipe was made meatless. |
Found your site today, BUT, cannot figure the finale to the stuffed eggplant (which looks gorgeous.) Can you elaborate? I would like to cook it on Friday. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping and commenting.
ReplyDeleteMake a simple marinara sauce (1/4 cup olive oil, 1 garlic clove, 4 or 5 fresh tomatoes or 1 large canned tomatoe, fresh parsley and basil, salt and black pepper - simmer for 15 minutes). Add stuffed sauteed eggplants and continue to simmer for 1/2 hour or so.
Thanks! I had faith, so I bought eggplants this afternoon. I bought big ones though because I think I will not enjoy working with the small ones I saw at the grocer's. I plan to slice them in half-well, maybe. I'll see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteHi Elisa. Party rescheduled, making this th 29th. But one more quick question: do you eat the eggplant skins?
ReplyDeleteAlso making the cornbread pizza.
Thank you.
Barbara
Of course, you eat the eggplant skins. On the other hand, my son does not like the taste of the skins. So he eats just the stuffing.
ReplyDeleteHi. I made this dish last week and it was great although a bit labor intensive. Still, it was received well, and my husband (a huge fan of eggplant) ate the leftovers last night. Many thanks for the recipe.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is labor intensive. Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
ReplyDeleteJust recently became a big eggplant fan. How much sausage, bread, eggs - etc. do you use in the stuffing?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I honestly do not know exactly. Start with 1lb. of sausage meat, 2 cups of shredded bread or bread crumbs, 1 cup of cheese and 2 to 3 eggs. Consistency of filling should be moist. If too much filling, stuff some peppers.
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