Melanzane alla parmiggiana

As you could notice from my blog, I love eggplants!!!
I use them a lot in my kitchen and I have different ways to cook them!
The most special of all, in my opinion, is the traditional "Melanzane alla parmiggiana".
I have changed the recipe a little bit to make it lighter, so instead of frying the eggplants I grill them.

Here is my recipe:

MELANZANE ALLA PARMIGGIANA

Ingredients:

2 big black, long eggplants
1 can tomatoe puree or peeled diced tomatoes
1 onion
2 carrots
1 cup grated parmesan
1 cup grated mozzarella
salt, pepper, origanum, basil

Vertically slice eggplants (half cm) then grill them till brown on both sides.
Sprinkle them with salt and origanum and let them rest.

Prepare the tomatoe sauce.
In a frying pan put some olive oil and sautee onion and carrots, thinly sliced, till soft. Add tomatoe puree, salt, origanum and let it cook, covered, for about 10 minutes.
Add few basil leaves and cook for other 5 minutes.



Spread a spoon of tomatoe sauce in a baking dish, then make a layer with eggplant slices. Cover with sauce, some parmesan and mozzarella. Then form another layer
with same ingredients. Use all ingredients ending with mozzarella.

Cover tray with aluminium foil and bake at 350 F (180 C) for 30 minutes.
Uncover baking dish and bake for other 5 min at 400 F (200 C).
The eggplant should be very soft.
Remove from oven and let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.

The "BABA' AL RHUM"

The Baba' is a soft, spongy round cake with a hole in the middle, served with cream or custard and berries. It can also be smaller and have the shape of a mushroom.
Although its orgin is Polish, it has become a symbol of the Napoletan baking tradition.
This is my husband favorite dessert and I have been practicing making it for many years.
I'm going to share with you my recipe that I borrowed from my family.
The shape of my Baba' is simply round and small and I serve it purely with Rhum.

BABA' AL RHUM

Ingredients for dough:
4 eggs + 2 yolks
50 g white sugar
75 g butter (5 TBS)
1 tsp yeast melted in halg glass of warm water
300 g flour

Ingredients for syrup:
200 ml water
200 g sugar
3/4 cup Rhum

Prepare dough beating eggs with sugar and melted butter.
Add yeast and mix it in well.
Add flour little by little and keep beating, beating, beating to get a smooth dough.
Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Then beat dough again for few minutes and transfer it in a tall round baking
dish. Cover and let it rise for couple of hours.

Meanwhile prepare syrup melting sugar in water.
Let water boil for 5 minutes, then put aside to cool it down. Add Ruhm.

When the dough has completely risen, bake it at 350 F (180 C) for 20 minutes.
Cool it down, then pour syrup on top of sponge cake and let it soak in for few hours.
Remove Baba' from baking dish and put it upside down on a serving plate.

Slice it and, before serving, wet each piece with more syrup.