Pasta Melanzane

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shokkyy

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Pasta Melanzane
« on: April 27, 2013, 17:50 »
I had pappardelle alle melanzane in a restaurant last week, and thought the sauce was absolutely delicious. I want to cook it at home but when I search for recipes on the web I'm finding quite a lot of difference in both ingredients and method. Some say to salt and drain the aubergine first, some not. Some say to roast aubergine first and some say to grill. Some say to add onion, some not. Some use ricotta, some parmesan, some mozzarella, and some use no cheese at all.

I don't really want to take hours making what should be a simple dish, but anyone tried making this and have any opinions on these differences? I'm thinking a good passata plus cubed aubergines, maybe grilled or fried first, with garlic, basil and cubed mozzarella melted in is probably going to be about right, and probably shouldn't need cooking for much longer than it takes to cook the pasta. That sound about right?

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compostqueen

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Re: Pasta Melanzane
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2013, 19:36 »
Yes I have and I've found the differences to be generally about calories. The authentic way is to fry the aubs in beaten egg first. I just fried my aubs in a huge frying pan.   I love it and I put mushrooms and aubs in it but I don't think the Italians would do so.  I don't bother salting aubs as they are generally as fresh as a daisy when you buy them these days and not bitter at all

I used parmesan in mine , and topped the whole thing with fresh basil leaves to serve.  I followed ( kind of) the recipe of Tim's at River Cottage.  You could put buffalo mozzarella in it for extra gorgeousness  :)

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allotmentann

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Re: Pasta Melanzane
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2013, 19:44 »
I have tried several versions of this, I like this dish. I never bother salting aubergines, I have never found that it made any noticable difference to the finished dish. I can't bring myself to fry them traditionally either - they absorb way to much oil for my liking. I tend to brush both sides of the slices lightly with oil and then fry them. I think as long as you cook the aubergines in some way before the final bake it works out okay. I would choose a recipe that has the ingredients that you like the most (I don't like ricotta for example so I tend to avoid those recipes). Hope you manage to find one that is close to what you had. :)

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mumofstig

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Re: Pasta Melanzane
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2013, 20:11 »
Old style Cucina povera - Poor or peasant food method would have included no cheese in the cooking, just a sprinkle of grated parmesan added at the table  ;)

Now most people can afford to spend more they've added things like cheese and pancetta to the recipes, but I still prefer the plainer version  :nowink:

If you by fresh smallish Aubergines they shouldn't need salting (that is to remove bitterness from veg past it's best) just make some cuts through the aubergine and roast or grill it until softened. Cut up and add to a tomato sauce ( garlic or onions, fried in a little olive oil, then add a jar of passata and a torn sprig of basil - salt to tast) heat together and then add the cooked pasta and toss before serving.


I like to use a little dried crushed chilli in my tomato sauce but that's optional.

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shokkyy

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Re: Pasta Melanzane
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2013, 22:31 »
Thanks for those suggestions, I'll have fun experimenting with them. I'm also not so keen on putting much oil anywhere near an aubergine, because they just soak it up so quickly and then taste horribly oily. I'll try roasting or grilling them. I think I could taste parmesan cooked into the restaurant sauce I liked so much, so I might use a bit of that but not too much. It is a sauce that's so simple and flexible you could come up with quite a lot of variations and they'd probably all taste delicious. But even my OH liked the restaurant version, and he's not a lover of pasta or cheese (or anything that doesn't have a large slab of red meat and copious amounts of ketchup :) ).

In the interests of keeping my gallstones quiet, I'm trying very hard to wean OH away from quite so much high fat food but it's difficult when he doesn't like so many of the alternatives. I could happily live on risottas and pasta with nice sauces. I am a lover of cheese, though, and that's not so good on fat content, is it.

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compostqueen

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Re: Pasta Melanzane
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2013, 09:41 »
I saw someone on telly the other day and she said to spray the oil, or brush, onto the sliced aubs rather than putting a lot of oil in the pan. Try it and see how it turns out  :)



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