I'll admit that this dish is time intensive because you need to cook the pasta, make a red sauce with chicken and prosciutto, and fry the eggplant all separately before mixing and baking the ingredients together. However, I can assure you that your taste buds will appreciate all your hard work!
Baked Eggplant Pasta
Pasta al forno con melanzane, pollo, prosciutto e mozzarella
Ingredients:
18 ounces gnocchi pasta (500 grams)*
2 eggplants
1 whole chicken breast
1 and 1/2 cups of prosciutto cotto or cubed ham (200 grami di prosciutto cotto in una fetta sola)
1 and 1/2 cups diced mozzarella
2 cans diced tomatoes (15 ounces each)
Half a small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
Peanut oil (for frying)
4 tablespoons butter, divided into two portions of 2 tablespoons each
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cube of bouillon
1 sprig of rosemary
2 sage leaves
Fine salt
Course salt (for salting the pasta water)
Pepper
*Be careful not to confuse this type of pasta with gnocchi the soft potato dumpling. If you cannot find dry gnocchi pasta in the USA, you may use shell pasta. Spaghetti or penne however is out of the question because the pasta needs to be able to hold/hug the pieces of meat and cheese, ensuring that each bite is full of flavor.
Instructions:
PREPARE THE EGGPLANT
1. At least one hour before beginning to make this pasta, cut the eggplants into round disks between 1/4 and 1/2 an inch thick.
2. Next, cut the disks into thin strips and sprinkle very generously with salt. The salt draws out the vegetable's moisture which can have a bitter taste. Let the salted eggplant sit for one hour in a colander so the excess moisture can drip off into the sink or onto a plate.
Above are the instructions given to me by Fausta, my mother-in-law. However, after an internet search it seems that modern eggplants are bred to not be bitter, so most new chefs generally don't salt the eggplant before cooking it unless they are frying it. See here and here for interesting articles about salting eggplant.
MAKE THE RED SAUCE
3. After preparing the eggplant, separately cut the chicken, prosciutto cotto, and mozzarella into 1/2 inch cubes. The chicken can be cut into slightly larger cubes than the prosciutto cotto and the mozzarella, but the main goal is to have most of the chunks small enough that they can fit into the opening of the pasta. If you're using a soft mozzarella (as you should be!), be sure to place it in a stainer after dicing it so the excess moisture can run off.
{Matteo sneaking pieces of prosciutto cotto!}
4. Once the chopping is done, begin cooking the sauce. Dice the onion into small pieces and then sauté it over medium heat in a large pot (which will be used to cook the sauce) with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter. When the onion is soft, add the cubes of chicken and cook until the meat it no longer visibly pink.
5. Next add the prosciutto, one cube of bouillon, once sprig of rosemary, and a couple sage leaves (these spices will flavor the meat nicely). Sir for one minute or so, then add two cans of diced tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Leave to cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Stir frequently to keep the bottom from burning.
BOIL THE PASTA
6. In a large pot, boil water for the pasta. A general rule for sating the cooking water comes from the (fantastic) cookbook "My Kitchen in Rome" when the author Roddy writes that she uses 2 heaping teaspoons of course salt for each quart of water: "-- more salt than I'd ever used....It was...pleasantly salty, which is precisely what pasta, which doesn't contain any salt, needs." When the water has come to a rolling boil, pour in the pasta.
MIX THE PASTA AND THE SAUCE TOGETHER
7. Remove the pot of boiling pasta from the heat and strain the gnocchi while it is still quite al dente (about 2-2.5 minutes before the cooking time on the package). Place the stained pasta in a very large bowl (which will be used to mix everything but the eggplant together) and add 2 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 a cup grated parmesan cheese.
{Notice the mozzarella that has been left in the strainer, allowing excess moisture to drain off.}
8. When the red sauce is done cooking, pull out the rosemary and sage and then pour the sauce into the bowl containing the pasta. Add the mozzarella cubes and mix well.
9. Move the pasta from the bowl to the pan. My mother-in-law cautioned that this is not a lasagna and therefore should not be thick. Only lay down a single layer of pasta, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan sufficiently.
10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
FRY THE EGGPLANT
11. Lastly, return to the eggplant. After the salted eggplant slices have sat for an hour, firmly squeeze the liquid from them and then thoroughly wash them under cold water. After they have been rinsed, squeeze the eggplant of excess water a second time. Lay the slices on a paper towel and press another couple sheets of paper towel on top until they are nicely dry.
12. Pour a generous amount of flour onto a large plate and evenly cover each piece of eggplant.
13. Prepare a pan with peanut oil that will be used to fry the eggplant. If you don't have a kitchen thermometer, you will know that the oil is hot enough when you stick a toothpick in the oil and bubbles form around it.
14. Fry the eggplant until it is golden and then transfer it to a paper towel covered plate. Salt as needed.
MIX ALL INGREDIENTS TOGETHER AND PLACE IN THE OVEN
15. Gently pour the fried eggplant on top of the pasta in the pan and carefully mix the slices into the pasta using two spoons. You cannot mix the eggplant in the mixing bowl with all the other ingredients before hand because the eggplant slices are very delicate and will break if you handle them forcefully.
16. Place the pan in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Everything is already cooked, so the goal is just to warm the food and heat up the mozzarella enough that it is stringy when pulled apart. When the mozzarella is no longer in squares but is instead nice and gooey, you know the dish is done.
17. Serve immediately and garnish individually with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
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