The temperatures are higher and higher and we want to eat light.
For this, we try to redo the eggplant recipe of the Sicilian chef Ignazio Messina from the restaurant Les Amis des Messina.
A dish made for him by his grandmother and which makes us travel to the Mediterranean for our greatest pleasure.
The Sicilian chef, Ignazio Messina, was the guest of Laurent Mariotte in the show
La Table des bons vivants
.
He took this opportunity to tell us about his native Sicily and the island's cuisine.
Themes that he addresses in his book
Les Amis des Messina
(Ed. Lamartinière) and of which he exclusively gives us his grandmother's eggplant recipe in the book.
Sicily on the plate
"It's a very simple, typically Sicilian, recipe that I got from my grandmother," says Ignazio Messina.
"I choose the variety, the violet. We cut it, we put a little salt and let it drain the day before for the next day. And then we fry the eggplant in olive oil. a plate. And either, we eat hot with tomato sauce or cold. "
The chef prefers the cold version, especially with the arrival of fine weather.
Sicilian eggplants by Ignazio Messina
Ingredients for 4 persons :
- 2 round and purple eggplants
- 1 can of tomato sauce
- 1 nice piece of salted ricotta
-1 sprig of fresh basil
- Olive oil
- Coarse salt
Preparation:
Cut the eggplants into 1 cm thick slices.
Arrange them in a colander, putting coarse salt between each slice.
Leave to drain for at least 6 hours at room temperature.
Heat some olive oil in a large enough pan and fry the eggplant slices on medium high for about 15 minutes.
Arrange a first layer of eggplants in a dish, cover with tomato sauce and add a new layer of eggplants, then grate the salted ricotta and arrange the basil leaves.
Repeat the operation on several layers until all the ingredients are used up.
Place in the fridge until ready to serve.