Wednesday, September 19, 2012

No porcini mushrooms? Make sautéed aubergine/eggplants (Melanzane al funghetto)

Sautéed aubergines / Praetud pommud / Melanzane al funghetto

The silver-haired Amalfi-born and England-based Antonio Carluccio is known in the United Kingdom as the godfather of Italian gastronomy. This lovely dish is based on his recipe. Gently sautéed cubed aubergines/eggplants with garlic indeed have a flavour reminiscent of porcini/penny bun/cep mushrooms (Boletus edulis in Latin) - hence the title of this post :) A handy recipe to have when you crave mushrooms but cannot get hold of good ones, or when you want to please somebody who cannot eat mushrooms for whatever reason..

Antonio Carluccio recommends this as a side dish to veal chops or Wienerschnitzler, but it's lovely as a vegetarian main with some crusty white bread as well. 

Choose nice and firm aubergines for this.

Melanzane al funghetto  
(Praetud pommud e. melanzane al funghetto)
Serves four

500 g aubergine/eggplant
2 garlic cloves
8 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp seal salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

Peel the aubergines (not compulsory, I actually prefer them unpeeled) and cut into neat 1,5-2 cm cubes. Slice the garlic.
Heat oil on a large skillet over moderate heat. Add the aubergine and garlic and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the aubergine softens.
Stir in the parsely, season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot or leave to cool before serving.

3 comments:

Sharon said...

I made this yesterday evening, because by luck I had the ingredients in house. It tasted really good!! It feels really filling but at the same time you know it is healthy.
Nami Nami, I just found out about your blog last week, but I already love it so much! You have so many recipes that are both delicious and easy. Thank you for sharing!

Pene said...

The next time I buy an eggplant I will make this, but I would use about 6 cloves of garlic.

ChichaJo said...

I actually laughed when I read the title of this post because, yes, I have no porcini mushrooms, in fact most of the time I am drooling after all the wonderful wild forest-y mushrooms you get there! Must try this soon...we have lots of eggplants over here!

Funny also because I just posted about oyster mushrooms which is a mushroom that is quite common on my side of the world :)