Parmigiana di Melanzane
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Parmigiana is like lasagna, only better! The classic Italian vegetable casserole with tomato sauce takes a little time to prepare, but is extremely tasty.
There are several variations of this dish: Parmigiana di Melanzane is made with eggplants, but there are also versions with zucchini or artichokes. In all cases, the vegetables are fried separately before the tomato sauce is added. There are also variations where the eggplants are coated in egg and breadcrumbs and then fried in a pan - but we won’t go to that trouble here.
The recipe in this article is based on the one in Claudio del Principe’s vegetarian Italian cookbook (publisher’s page, written in German).
The parsley may seem like an unnecessary garnish, but I would strongly recommend using it: It gives the parmigiana a great fresh note.
Recipe #
Parmigiana di Melanzane
75 minutes
4 portions
Ingredients #
- 400 g eggplants
- 50 ml olive oil
- 400 g canned tomatoes
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 50 g Parmesan cheese
- 1 mozzarella (approx. 200-250 g)
- 10 g fresh parsley
- 50 g breadcrumbs
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 pinch of pepper
Directions #
- Wash the eggplants, cut them into 0.5-1 cm thick slices, and place them next to each other on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
- Season the eggplants with salt and brush with a little olive oil on both sides.
- Bake in the oven at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel and chop the garlic. Sauté in a pan with a little olive oil, then deglaze with the canned tomatoes and add 200 ml of water. Bring to the boil, then simmer over medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
- Grate the Parmesan and cut the mozzarella into slices or cubes. Wash and chop the parsley.
- Layer the parmigiana: Spread a little olive oil in the bottom of an ovenproof dish, then add a layer of tomato sauce. Add a layer of eggplant slices, some breadcrumbs, mozzarella, Parmesan, and parsley, then another layer of tomato sauce. Continue layering until all the ingredients are used up, finishing the top layer with Parmesan and mozzarella.
- Increase the oven temperature to 200°C and bake for about 30 minutes.
Carbon Footprint #
The recipe in this article is for four servings. For a fair comparison with the other recipes, I have converted the carbon footprint to two portions.
In total, two portions of Parmigiana have an estimated carbon footprint of 1464 g.
This ranks it number 27 out of 56 recipes published on the blog so far in terms of estimated carbon footprint.
The estimated emissions are therefore still slightly better than the average of the recipes.In terms of individual ingredients, mozzarella and Parmesan stand out: Together they account for more than half of Parmigiana’s carbon footprint, although they make up less than a quarter of the total weight of the ingredients.
| ingredient | carbon footprint per kg | carbon footprint (in g) for 2 servings | % of ingredients | % of CO2 emissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eggplant | 0.2 | 80 | 34% | 3% |
| Olive oil | 3.2 | 160 | 4% | 5% |
| Canned tomatoes | 1.8 | 720 | 34% | 25% |
| Garlic | 0.5 | 3 | 1% | 0% |
| Parmesan | 6.3 | 315 | 4% | 11% |
| Mozzarella | 5.7 | 1283 | 19% | 44% |
| Parsley | 1.13 | 11 | 1% | 0% |
| Breadcrumbs | 0.6 | 30 | 4% | 1% |
| Salt | 1.1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| Pepper | 1.1 | 1 | 0% | 0% |
| Bake: Eggplant | 366 | 149 | 5% | |
| Cooking sauce | 366 | 26 | 1% | |
| Baking: Parmigiana | 366 | 149 | 5% |
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