Chris Curcio's eggplant parmigiana
WHEN you grow up in an Italian family, you have to learn to cook – one way or another.
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Not that cooking was ever a chore for Chris Curcio.
Finding your way in the kitchen is simply part of life – but that doesn’t mean you can’t be surprised by anything.
In fact, when he first found the recipe for eggplant parmigiana, it was something Mr Curcio said was completely new to him in the context of Italian cooking.
“Being from an Italian background I’ve been exposed to many different types of Italian food and cuisine, but this is one thing that I’d never actually come across until I read about it in one of my cookbooks,” he said.
“We used to make tomato sauce, we used to make salami, all that sort of stuff.
“Naturally we had to show some sort of interest – even of we didn’t we’d be brought along anyway.
“It was good growing up, learning a lot of these simple things done well.
“What I really like about this recipe is that it uses some really basic, simple ingredients.
“It really epitomises Italian cuisine – things like olive oil, eggplant cheese, some of the best ingredients go together to make a really nice meal.”
For Mr Curcio, Italian cooking is a case of ‘less is more’.
But that doesn’t mean you can simply throw a bunch of ingredients together – it’s still very much a labour of love.
“There is a lot in the saying ‘less is more’, but you have to put a lot of care and love into it because there’s nowhere to hide if you make a mistake.
“This is a very forgiving recipe though, and there’s so may ways you can adapt it beyond what it is.
“Even in itself, this is a really nice recipe in its simplest form.
“The average person would probably be a bit surprised to come across an Italian dish that doesn’t use beef or lamb or rabbit.”
Just because the listed recipe is a vegetarian one, you don’t have to sacrifice flavour.
They key is to make the most of the Mediterranean influence.
“Yes, this is a vegetarian dish, but you can mix through things like prosciutto, cured meats ham.
“That’s a good option, particularly if you want something a bit more substantial,” Mr Curcio said.
“You can also use zucchini instead of eggplant, if that’s hat you feel like.
“Any sort of vegetable that’s fairly firm that you can batter and crumb and fry will do really well.
Zucchini is an absolute staple, it doesn’t cost much at all but you can really get a lot for it.”