Polpettone di Melanzane

Aubergine and potato bound into a single baked loaf, with nothing layered.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains parmesan whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 1 kg aubergines
• 400 g floury potatoes
• 100 g parmesan, grated
• 2 eggs
• 80 g breadcrumbs, and more for the dish
• 2 tablespoons marjoram leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons salt

Method

1. BOIL THE AUBERGINES WHOLE, 20 minutes, until a knife goes through easily. Not fried and not in slices — this is a bound loaf, not a layered bake, and that is the whole difference from a parmigiana.
2. Boil the potatoes separately and rice them.
3. SQUEEZE THE COOKED AUBERGINE HARD in a cloth. It holds an astonishing amount of water and every millilitre left in makes the loaf collapse.
4. Chop the squeezed flesh coarsely and mix with the potato, parmesan, eggs, breadcrumbs, marjoram, crushed garlic and salt.
5. The mixture should hold its shape on a spoon. Add breadcrumbs a spoonful at a time if it does not.
6. Press it into an oiled dish scattered with breadcrumbs, no more than 4 cm deep, and smooth the top.
7. Thread oil over and bake at 190C for 40 minutes until the top is crusted. Eat it warm or cold, cut in squares — it is better at room temperature the next day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes