Eggplant casserole with linguine

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 2 m.-large eggplant(s), purple
• 4 m.-large tomato(s), fully ripe
• 1 liter of water
• 2 tbsp, leveled salt
• 1 tsp, heaped citric acid, crystalline
• 25 g bacon, streaky, smoked
• 4 small onions, red
• 2 medium-sized garlic cloves, fresh
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 150 g minced beef, fresh or frozen
• 2 m.-large tomato(s), red, fully ripe
• 1 tbsp celery leaves, fresh or frozen
• 80 g tomato juice
• 50 g cooking water from pasta
• 1 tbsp, heaped tomato paste
• 1 tbsp, heaped paprika powder, mild
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 g chicken stock powder (strong bouillon)
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• 100g linguine
• 300 g water
• 6 g chicken stock powder (strong bouillon)
• 120 g Pecorino, alternatively mountain cheese
• 1 tbsp butter for the mold
• e.g. sunflower oil for frying the eggplant(s)
• 4 m.-large grapes, dark
• 2 tbsp celery leaves

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 50 minutes

A spicy casserole with tomatoes and topped with pecorino cheese. Recipe from Calabria, Italy.

Mix the ingredients for the brine until everything is dissolved. Wash the eggplants, cut off both ends, and cut crosswise into 5 mm thick slices. Immediately add the slices to the brine and use a suitable plate to ensure they remain submerged. Leave the brine to soak for 30 minutes, moving the slices occasionally. Then strain, drain well, and lay out on a fresh tea towel to dry, then cover. Meanwhile, wash the tomatoes, remove the stems, skin, quarter lengthwise, and discard the white-green stem ends and seeds. Halve the quarters crosswise and set aside. For the sauce, finely dice the bacon. Cut off both ends of the onions and garlic cloves, peel, and chop into small pieces. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stems, skin, quarter lengthwise, and discard the white-green stem ends and seeds. Chop or cut the quarters into small pieces. Wash the fresh celery, shake dry, pick off any unblemished leaves, and chop them. Use 1 tablespoon of this immediately and freeze the remaining leaves separately from the chopped stalks. Measure out the frozen celery and let it thaw. Heat the olive oil in a sufficiently large pan and fry the bacon cubes until fragrant. Add the onions and garlic cloves and fry until translucent. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Deglaze with the tomato juice. Remove from the heat and set aside. For the linguine, bring the water to a boil, dissolve the chicken stock in it, and cook the linguine al dente according to the package instructions. It’s better to have it a little too firm than too soft. Strain and DO NOT rinse with cold water. Complete the sauce with the cooking water and the remaining ingredients. Bring the sauce to a boil briefly. In a pan, fry the eggplant slices on both sides until light brown and drain on kitchen paper. Grease a baking dish and spread 4 tablespoons of the sauce on the bottom. Cover with half of the linguine. Sprinkle one-third of the pecorino over the pasta. Top with the eggplant slices. Sprinkle with another third of the pecorino. Arrange the tomato pieces on top and drizzle with just under half of the sauce. Spread the remaining pasta on top, drizzle with the remaining sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining pecorino. Drizzle with 4 tablespoons of the pasta broth. Place the 4 grapes and bake on a medium heat at 180 degrees fan-assisted oven. Garnish in the baking dish and serve. The picture shows a portion spread out on a serving plate.