I think I have already written this, but I want to reiterate: I love the month of August and, above all, Bolognese eggplant cutlets even though, since it is a recipe from Italian peasant cuisine, I am sure that, with few or many variations, there are sister recipes in many regions.
I was before plunging into the clear, bright light of an August morning, when you know the sun will be warm, the sky blue, and the day endless, just like when I was a little girl and August was just another month of vacation. Even if, it was more pleasant since, finally, even the parents would join us kids already on holiday with grandma, aunts, and cousins.
Lo and behold, I said, that before going out, I have just the time to reread the recipe for eggplant cutlets I have had on the blog for a few years, discovering that I never wrote it down and shared it. Poor me!
Amazed, I immediately sat at the work table, opened the pc, and wrote down the recipe. I certainly don’t need to cook to remember ingredients and process. Eggplant cutlets, lettuce rolls, and friggione are recipes that have always been part of my summers.
Running summers
I had the childhood that every child should have. And I hope there are still children lucky enough to one day remember the summer when everything was a little adventure, and you ran in packs.
Above all, I remember herds of children. They were the farmers’ sons in the countryside where my maternal Grandma was born, and then, at the beach, my cousins and other friends I met again year after year.
All of us dressed in short pants and had bare legs.
Legs that turned from mozzarella white to the color of carob throughout the summer often bore the marks of daily vicissitudes: the red marks left by nettles, insect bites, and sunburns.
I used to run through the tall yellow ears of wheat before the harvest and then from the seashore to the bathhouse to reach the slide. After swimming, we each received permission and money to buy snacks or ice cream, and we would run to the beach bar.
Looking back on it now, I used to run all the time, on foot or on a bicycle. There was this urgency to live, discover, and do that did not contemplate the action of walking; we could only run.
Even at lunchtime, the troop would come running and ravenous to the table, repulsed by stern grandmothers who wanted us to wash our hands and faces before seating us. And, again, we would all run to the bathroom, amidst pushing and laughing, and then trot to the table. We literally devoured so much and everything, almost in a rush. Although there were favorite dishes, there was a time when I would live on eggplant cutlets and fried zucchini; anything would do.
Still today, when the August sun is high, and the air is charged with electricity, I smell the scent of those adventurous days, when adventure consisted running freely, eating greedily, feeling real hunger pangs.
Today, by the standards of the young me of that time, I am old and have commitments and responsibilities.
I don’t run anymore, but the same, I feel the call, perhaps the longing, for those endless days, and I wish there were still adventures out there to be had running, bare-legged, waiting to hear “a tavolaaaa (it is ready).”
Someone told me it doesn’t happen to children now, although I sincerely hope it is not true.
Eggplant cutlets
A handful of ingredients for a simple recipe from the cucina povera repertoire.
Eggplant cutlets are part of the Bolognese repertoire, with mortadella cutlet, and that Bolognese.
Eggplant and mortadella cutlets are typical home-style dishes. In contrast, Bolognese appears on the menus of many restaurants even though the authentic one (without cream and cheese) is no longer made by anyone.
When I was growing up, eggplant cutlets were always accompanied by fried zucchini as we made them. Fried zucchini, another typical food of the countryside of Bologna and Romagna, has always been a beloved recipe. I know it is not on the blog; the explanation lies in that they have been banished from my life and memories for so long. Like other facts of life, Culinary ones awaken painful episodes that are easier to push away than deal with. Anyway, I am committed to sharing it.
The eggplant cutlets of my childhood were fried; of course. Once people used to fry more. But you can also bake them in the oven, getting a satisfactory result in a crispy crust. Today, I also bake them more often.
Buona cucina, Monica
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Bolognese eggplant cutlets
Ingredients
- 200 g of unsalted breadcrumbs
- 4 eggs
- 2 black eggplants, about 800 g
- salt and olive oil to taste
Instructions
- If you fry them, follow the following procedure, then fry two slices at a time in hot seed oil for three minutes or until the surfaces is golden and crisp.
Baked cutlets
- Preheat oven to 190C (374F) degrees.
- Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper and grease generously with olive oil. Set aside.
- Arrange the breadcrumbs in a flat, wide dish.
- Shell the eggs on a plate. Add a pinch of salt, and beat with a fork.
- Wash and dry the eggplant, remove the ends, and cut into slices about half an inch thick. Set aside the outermost slices with more skin than flesh for other uses, and use the different slices.
- Dip one slice at a time in breadcrumbs, then in egg, again in breadcrumbs, and lay on the baking sheet so the slices do not overlap.
- When you have finished breading all the slices, drizzle with olive oil, add a pinch of salt, and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes before turning the slices over. Before putting them back in the oven, spread a pinch of salt on this side and more olive oil (this is needed to make a crispy crust, so don't skimp). Put them back in the oven for another 20 minutes or as long as it takes to make the breadcrumbs crispy but not burnt.
- Serve immediately the cutlets hot with a seasonal side dish such as a fresh salad or baked tomatoes.
Tips
- I usually calculate 2 cutlets per person.
- If you cut each eggplant slice in half, you can serve them as an appetizer or entrée.
