The classic recipe is incomparable, but there are many other great variations – just made in a different way. What are we talking about, exactly? Parmigiana!
Most likely of Sicilian origin, fused with influences from Parma (hence the name ‘parmigiana’), this typical dish of Italian cuisine is suitable for many recipes featuring a variety of vegetables.
Eggplant parmigiana
Let's start (of course) with the most classic recipe – the recipe that embodies the true spirit of Sicilian-Parthenopean Italian cuisine. Eggplant parmigiana is a traditional dish that never changes – rich in flavor and featuring the perfect balance between ingredients and Mediterranean scents. This recipe includes the exclusive use of mozzarella – instead of other varieties of stringy cheese – to accompany the eggplants, plus a rich homemade tomato sauce with fried onion or shallot. Last – but definitely not least – you’ll need eggplants, which must be fried for an authentic parmigiana, although there are lighter variations of this famous dish with grilled or steamed vegetables. The flavor will not be as intense as the classic fried version, but the result is always guaranteed.
Zucchini parmigiana
This recipe can be made by changing the “feature” vegetables in the dish. The most famous is probably zucchini – breaded and fried or just fried (depending on personal preference), baked in the oven or sautéed in a pan, and perhaps with a rich béchamel sauce instead of the classic tomato for zucchini parmigiana “in white.” Eggplants and zucchini can also be used together, for a mix where the two vegetables’ flavors blend with the sliced tomatoes. Our advice? Grill all the vegetables and season them with mozzarella (making sure to eliminate any excess liquid – this is one of the secrets to making the perfect parmigiana) and parmesan cheese before baking them in the oven for about 10 minutes for even more flavor.
Parmigiana variations
If you love to experiment in the kitchen, opt for the less classic variants of parmigiana. One of the tastiest is made with pumpkin. Simple to make and rich in taste, with pumpkin parmigiana, you can bread the veggies and either fry them or bake, depending on the taste you’d like to give the dish. The element of the recipe that absolutely cannot change to keep it authentic, however, is the use of mozzarella cheese, and in this particular case, tomato sauce is not recommended. To add extra flavor, use Parmigiano cheese.
Potato parmigiana is perhaps the richest variant. This recipe is prepared with béchamel sauce and it is flavored with cooked ham, speck or provola cheese. It is cooked in the oven in less than 50 minutes and we suggest blanching the potatoes for about 10 minutes in boiling water before cutting them and adding them to the pan.
There are also other, lesser-known varieties of parmigiana, and they’re always combined with very tasty cheese. With carrots or with escarole, for example but we recommend seasoning the vegetables before baking them in the oven.
A very light version of parmigiana is the recipe that features cardoons – to be boiled in water for an hour before assembling them in the baking pan with béchamel sauce. Tasty dishes – that could be also be served as a rich side dish – are artichoke parmigiana (enriched with cooked ham and boiled eggs), asparagus parmigiana (better to boil the asparagus before seasoning and baking with the sauce), and fennel parmigiana (better with burrata cheese instead of mozzarella).