COMMENT:
Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4, 1678 in Italy. His father was
a barber and was apparently a fine violin player. Vivaldi took up
the violin and soon, became a better player than his father and
by age 25 was teaching music. Throughout Italy, during this period,
eggplant was showing up in many dishes and with the combination
of sweet Italian sausage, made a casserole that tastes like the
violin sounded.
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 large eggplants, peeled and sliced 1/4-in thick
- 2 lbs Italian sausage
- 1/4 cup virgin olive oil
- 2 cups onions, diced
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 cup bell pepper, diced
- 1/4 cup garlic, chopped
- 4 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
- 2 cups water
- 1 1/2 tsps garlic powder
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup pimento olives, chopped
- 4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
- salt and pepper to taste
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle salt over eggplant slices
and place in a large colander with a weight on top to help squeeze
water from the eggplant. Let drain for 1 hour. In a heavy 5-qt dutch
oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Remove 1 lb of the Italian
sausage from the casing and brown in oil as you would ground meat.
When brown add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic. Blend well
into the sausage mixture. Saute 3 to 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce,
water and season lightly with salt and pepper. Bring to a rolling
boil, reduce to simmer and cook 45 minutes. Rinse the eggplant slices
under water and pat dry, brush with olive oil and place on a cookie
sheet and bake for approximately 30 minutes to tenderize, but do
not allow to fall apart. When tomato sauce is ready, place a ladle
of sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Cover with a
layer of eggplant and sprinkle with a small amount of cheese, olives
and boiled eggs. Continue layering until all is used up to create
a lasagne-type casserole. Pour any excess sauce on top of the casserole
and surround with remaining Italian sausage cut in 1-in links and
top with remaining Parmesan. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. |
