Breaded eggplants or as we call them: "cotolette di melanzane!"

Cotolette di melanzane

Do you know how to prepare some amazing breaded aubergines or eggplants?
This is a Sicilian recipe that we called "melanzane a cotoletta". Melanzane means aubergine/eggplant, while the expression a cotoletta explains the way we cook it, as I wrote in my previous article. My friend Lucia and I prepared them last week.

Ingredients & preparation for 4 people: 

- 1 rounded aubergine/eggplant (the ones we call tunisine)

- 2 beaten eggs

- breadcrumb

- olive oil

In Sicily we mostly use these kind of eggplants because they are sweeter and absorb less oil during the frying process.
1. As the pictures explain first let's cut the eggplant in slices not too thin. Place them in a colander with salt on for about 15 minutes than wash them under running water and dry them with a clean cloth;

 2. Prepare the "eggplants cotolette" just like in the video shown here (beaten eggs and breadcrumb);

3. Put on a high heat a large pan and fill half of it with olive oil and fry them on both sides until golden brown (pic below). 

4. Prepare a plate with kitchen paper to help absorb the exceeding oil, then serve them warm with a refreshing salads like tomatoes or rockets. 

When we were kids and my mum was preparing any kind of cotoletta, there was usually some beaten egg left, so she used to add some more breadcrumb and fry it at the end like a thick omelette. We loved it and we always fought to get the biggest piece of it!!!

Try them at least once, they are delicious and you will have a scrumptious lunch that is definetely worth the time spent frying!

The basics of Sicilian Cuisine: the "cotoletta" preparation!

Hi dear food lovers and blog readers, last week I asked on my facebook page the best way to translate our word "cotoletta" and I had some interesting answers, thanks very much!

Infact I was with Lucia, a friend of mine and I was helping her in preparing some amazing eggplants in breadcrumb, so I thought to write a few lines about this preparation that we love so much!

Be careful though because here in Sicily we have 2 similar ways of preparing breaded dishes: a lighter one (usually referred as impanatura) and a more complex one (the real cotoletta).

 
1) Light- We call it "impanatura" (literally means breaded) and is usually used only for meat or fish, we run it only in breadcrumb or sometimes in olive oil first and then breadcrumb (like this we do veal, chicken breast or swordfish);

2) Complex - We run both meat or vegetables first in beaten eggs and then in breadcrumb. Then we fry whatever is that we are preparing. So, the distinction is very important and is based on the ingredient you are preparing!!!

In this video that I shot, my friend Lucia and I were preparing some eggplants in breadcrumb (the recipe is coming soon on my blog) so I thought it was the best way to explain how we prepare any food "a cotoletta". Enjoy!!!