Eggplant Fritti
These crispy little fritters are stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and basil pesto. Here they are served with my roasted tomato sauce for a cheats kind of parmigiana. They would also be amazing in a ciabatta burger or even on their own for aperitivo with a glass of Prosecco! They’re that good! This recipe works best with buffalo mozzarella as its very soft so when you sandwich the 2 pieces of eggplant together they stick. She’s a bit of a messy job but its worth it!
Ingredients
(Serves 2 for a main and 4 for a snack I got 12 from mine)
1 large eggplant, thinly sliced
200g buffalo mozzarella - I used minis but you could dice up a large one
1/2 cup basil pesto - I used store brought don’t judge me
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp flour
To Serve
Freshly picked basil
Prep It
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Thinly slice eggplant and place on a lined oven tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until almost cooked. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Turn the oven off we done with that!
Halve your mini mozzarella or dice your large one up and place in a bowl ready for action. Have pesto nearby with a teaspoon in it.
When eggplant are cool enough to handle place out on the bench in partners. Be selective of which pieces of eggplant you match together. They should be roughly the same size. Place a dollop of pesto on one piece and then mozzarella on the other piece. Top the pesto piece on top of the mozzarella piece so you make a wee eggplant sandwich. Squeeze gently to stick. Continue this until all done and hopefully you had an even amount of pieces.
Crumb It
Whisk together the egg and milk in a medium size bowl, place panko in a second medium size bowl and place flour on a flat dinner plate.
On your bench in front of you, you should have as follows; eggplant pieces at the far left of you. Then your plate of flour, then your egg, then your breadcrumbs and lastly grab the tray you used to cook your eggplant and place it at the end. This is where you’ll stash your crumbed eggplant.
This is where it gets messy. Dip each eggplant sandwich first in the flour making sure its well coated, then the egg and then the panko. Press crumbs on to really stick and then pop it on your tray. Continue with this until they’re all crumbed.
Cook It
Heat a GOOD drizzle of oil in a large fry-pan on medium-high heat. Cook eggplant in batches (don’t over crowed the pan it makes life harder) for about 2 minutes each side, until very golden. The cheese may even ooze but this is ok! If cooking in batches, place first batch on a wire rack to cool while the second cooks to insure ultimate crisp! Season with salt straight after frying.
Serve It
With your sauce, sprinkled with basil or on its own with a glass of Prosecco!