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Baked and breads

Parmigiana di melanzane

Fried aubergine layered with tomato sauce, mozzarella or caciocavallo and Parmigiano, baked into a gratin.

Parmigiana di melanzane is a southern Italian bake of fried aubergine slices, tomato sauce with basil, a melting cheese and grated hard cheese, built up in layers and baked. It is eaten warm or at room temperature, often the day after it is made, when the layers have settled.

What goes in

Mozzarella or caciocavallo: 18%18%Parmigiano Reggiano: 9%9%Aubergines: 36%36%Tomato sauce: 23%23%Olive oil: 9%9%Basil: 5%6parts

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Rest Slice the aubergines, salt them and let them drain.
  2. Step 2: Fry Fry the slices in olive oil until golden and drain on paper.
  3. Step 3: Simmer Simmer a simple tomato sauce with basil.
  4. Step 4: Grate Grate the hard cheese and slice the melting cheese.
  5. Step 5: Layer Layer sauce, aubergine, cheeses and basil in a dish, finishing with sauce and grated cheese.
  6. Step 6: Bake Bake until bubbling, then rest well before cutting.
  7. Mozzarella or caciocavallo: 18%18%Parmigiano Reggiano: 9%9%Aubergines: 36%36%Tomato sauce: 23%23%Olive oil: 9%9%Basil: 5%
    Finished Parmigiana di melanzane, by share.

A disputed name

Campania and Sicily both claim the dish, and the name is argued over too. It may refer to Parma and its Parmigiano, though the dish is not from Parma. Another explanation links it to the Sicilian word parmiciana, the slats of a window shutter, which the overlapping aubergine slices resemble. Neither explanation is settled, and both regions cook it with pride.

Regional cheese

In Naples the melting cheese is usually fior di latte or smoked provola, and Parmigiano goes between the layers. In Sicily, caciocavallo or a local pecorino often takes the place of both, and some cooks add hard-boiled egg or salami. The aubergine is usually fried, sometimes after dipping in flour or egg, though lighter versions grill or bake it.

Where it is used

Summer lunchSunday table

The cheeses in it

MozzarellaThe Neapolitan melting cheese.CaciocavalloCommon in Sicily.ScamorzaSmoked version used by some cooks.ParmesanA hard, granular cow's-milk cheese aged at least a year in northern Italy.

Also part of it, and being written: Parmigiano Reggiano (Grated between the layers.).

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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