{"id":5308,"date":"2026-10-21T11:14:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/?p=5308"},"modified":"2026-10-21T11:14:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:14:54","slug":"parmigiana-di-melanzane-with-pork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/?p=5308","title":{"rendered":"Parmigiana di Melanzane with Pork"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/?attachment_id=5310\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5310\" src=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/parmigiana-melanzane-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Parmigiana di melanzane with layered aubergine slices and a basil leaf\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/parmigiana-melanzane-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/parmigiana-melanzane-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/parmigiana-melanzane-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/parmigiana-melanzane.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The classic <em>Parmigiana di Melanzane<\/em> is one of those dishes I could eat every week: fried aubergines, a slow tomato sauce, mozzarella and a generous blanket of Parmesan. Nobody quite agrees where it comes from \u2013 Naples, Sicily and Parma all claim it \u2013 and every Italian nonna has her own version.<\/p>\n<p>We went to Puglia recently for a cycling trip and had a different one than in Tuscany.<\/p>\n<p>This is my adapted version.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I wanted something a bit more substantial for a family dinner, so I added a layer of pork \u2013 a pork and fennel rag\u00f9 built into the tomato sauce \u2013 while keeping the traditional aubergines and tomatoes. It sits somewhere between a parmigiana and my <a href=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/?p=1364\">Moussaka chez Mamy<\/a>, but without the sauce blanche.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ingredients:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>4 or 5 aubergines (about 1.2kg)<\/li>\n<li>80-100g plain flour (for dusting)<\/li>\n<li>Light olive oil for frying<\/li>\n<li>800g minced pork (or good Italian sausages, skinned)<\/li>\n<li>1 onion, finely diced<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed<\/li>\n<li>3 garlic cloves, crushed<\/li>\n<li>My secret ingredient is a roasted long pepper<\/li>\n<li>A good, generous tbsp of tomato concentrate<\/li>\n<li>2 x 400g tins of Mutti chopped tomatoes. I like arrabbiata sauce as well<\/li>\n<li>A splash of red wine (optional)<\/li>\n<li>A pinch of sugar, salt, black pepper and dried oregano<\/li>\n<li>A good handful of fresh basil<\/li>\n<li>2 balls of mozzarella (250g), drained well and torn into small pieces<\/li>\n<li>120g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated (some recipes mix in a bit of Pecorino)<\/li>\n<li>Extra virgin olive oil<\/li>\n<li>A deep oven dish.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to Make:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Slice the aubergines lengthways, about 5mm thick. (Air fry them with some olive oil to dry them off a bit and give them nice colour).<\/li>\n<li>Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a heavy pot (my Le Creuset again!), soften the onion and fennel in a little olive oil on medium heat for about 8 minutes until they melt and take a bit of colour.<\/li>\n<li>Turn up the heat, add the pork and the fennel seeds and brown the meat well, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add the garlic for the last minute.<\/li>\n<li>Add the tomato concentrate and let it cook for a minute, then deglaze with the red wine if using.<\/li>\n<li>Add the tomatoes, a pinch of sugar, the oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer gently for 30-40 minutes, lid half on, until thick. Tear in some basil at the end. The sauce should be rich but not watery.<\/li>\n<li><em>B<\/em>rush the slices with olive oil and roast them under the grill (or in the air fryer at around 200\u00b0C) until golden, turning once. Less authentic, but a lot less oil.<\/li>\n<li>Preheat the oven to 180\u00b0C (fan).<\/li>\n<li>Assemble: a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the dish, then a layer of aubergines, a layer of the pork rag\u00f9, some mozzarella, a few basil leaves and a good sprinkle of Parmesan.<\/li>\n<li>Repeat (aubergines \/ pork sauce \/ mozzarella \/ basil \/ Parmesan) until everything is used. Finish with aubergines, a little sauce, the rest of the mozzarella and plenty of Parmesan on top.<\/li>\n<li>Bake for 35-45 minutes until bubbling and golden on top. If it colours too quickly, cover with aluminium foil.<\/li>\n<li>Leave it to rest for at least 15-20 minutes before cutting. It holds together much better and the flavours settle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Serve with a green salad and some crusty bread. Like most of these layered dishes, it is even better the next day, and it freezes well.<\/p>\n<p><em>Variation:<\/em> some recipes keep the aubergine parmigiana fully vegetarian and serve breaded pork escalopes (flour, egg, breadcrumbs, then fried) on the side with a slice of lemon. Worth trying if you want to keep the two separate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[Photos to add]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The classic Parmigiana di Melanzane is one of those dishes I could eat every week: fried aubergines, a slow tomato sauce, mozzarella and a generous blanket of Parmesan. Nobody quite agrees where it comes from \u2013 Naples, Sicily and Parma &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/?p=5308\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5308"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5313,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5308\/revisions\/5313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozone.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}