Melanzane alla Parmigiana recipe
The recipe from the Stir Crazy Cooking Culinary Theatre
Lianne and I don't get invited to many events where we're handed an apron and a knife block before the night is out, so when Stir Crazy Cooking asked us along to their Culinary Theatre on 5 June, we were curious to see what they had planned. It turned out to be part cooking class, part farm tour, and part product launch, all rolled into one long, well-fed evening.
This is the Melanzane alla Parmigiana recipe we cooked that night, and it was so delicious - you have to try it!
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Ingredients to make melanzane alla parmigiana
4 large aubergine
400 g tin of Italian tomatoes
2 medium onions
2 eggs
3 gram basil
100 gram mozzarealla
half a cup parmigiano or pecorino cheese
Salt and freshy ground pepper to taste
How to prepare melanzane alla parmigiana
Finely chop the onions.
Fry the onion with some olive oil in a pot until softened.
Add the tomatoes and basil.
When cooked, blend the sauce, then cook a little more over a low heat, without letting the sauce thicken too much.
Season to taste.
Preheat the oven to 160 C.
Slice the aubergine into 1 cm thick slices. Add some salt and place them on a baking tray with a little oil.
Roast the aubergine in the oven until they have softened and browned slightly.
Beat the eggs and mix into the cooked tomato sauce.
Grate the mozzarella cheese and parmigiano or pecorino cheese, seperately.
Arrange a third of the aubergine at the bottom of an oven dish, and cover with some mozzarella cheese some of the tomato sauce, then some more mozarella.
Repeat the process with another layer.
Lay down a third layer, covering it with the remaining grated cheese and egg-tomato sauce.
Bake the dish in the oven on 160 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes.
Change to grill for the last few minutes to lightly brown the top.
Cover with some fresh basil leaves before serving.
More recipes
Below the newsletter block, you will find some more recipes.
There are a lot of different types of meats you can cook on the braai. How about this Prime Rib Roast with Exotic Mushroom Sauce and Pak Choy? You can also make a Leg of Lamb on the braai or a Lemon & Herb Peri-Peri and Rosemary Deboned Leg of Lamb. I’ve also made Ostrich Fillet Kebabs with Nectarine and Rosemary on the braai.
Other than meat, South Africans also love to put seafood on the braai. This braaied snoek recipe with plum jam is a winner.
If you’re looking for a side on the braai, you can either make this pull bread with pesto, mozzarella and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, or make traditional braai broodjies (keep an eye out for my secret ingredient). If you have leftover gammon, these gammon braai broodjies are also to die for.
About Shawn Godfrey
Photo credit: Niki M Photography
Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.
Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.
It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.
On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (8), Olivia (6) and Harvey (4).
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