Fried Eggplant with Salmorejo Recipe (Spanish Tapa)

Eggplant with salmorejo is a dish that is proposed very often in tapas restaurants during summer. Eggplant is fried and served with a side dish of salmorejo. The latter is a sort of gazpacho, made ​​with bread and tomatoes. It is thicker than the Andalusian gazpacho. Normally eggplant is dipped in the salmorejo or we spread some of it with a spoon. It tastes very good! I remember that the first summer I returned to Madrid since I left it and moved to Grenoble, I went out with some friends to try a new tapas restaurant. You know those moments when you look at the menu and you know instantaneously what you are going to order? Or rather said… what you “need” to order. That is what happened to me that day with this tapas of eggplant with salmorejo. It was really worth it, it was excellent.

Fried Eggplant with Salmorejo Recipe (Spanish Tapa)

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Serves: 4 Time: 1 h 30 m Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant 
• 1 egg 
• breadcrumbs 
• 1 beer 
• salt 
• For salmorejo: 
• 250 g of ripe tomatoes 
• 1/4 of a clove of garlic 
• 30 g of bread from the day before, without much crust 
• 25 ml of extra virgin olive oil 
• Diced serrano ham or prosciutto 
• salt 

Directions

1. Prepare salmorejo: 
   1. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stems and cut into quarters. Grind them in a blender and strain with a fine sieve. 
   2. Cut the bread into pieces and moisten with the tomato coulis. Macerate for about 10 minutes. 
   3. Grind in a mixer bread with tomato and 1/4 of the garlic clove (stemless) for 2 or 3 minutes. 
   4. Add oil and mix well again. 
   5. Refrigerate. 
2. Wash eggplant and remove the stem. Cut it into slices half a centimeter thick. 
3. Salt the slices and let them sit in a colander for half an hour. This step allows the eggplant to lose its bitter taste. 
4. Then rinse, drain, place  into a bowl and marinate with beer for a good half hour. This step allows the eggplant does not absorb too much oil during frying. 
5. Set up two plates, one with the well beaten egg and one with breadcrumbs. 
6. Dip each slice first in egg and roll in bread crumbs then. 
7. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 cm of olive oil. 
8. When the oil is hot, fry the breaded eggplant slices until golden brown on both sides. 
9. Let stand for a moment on paper towels. 
10. Serve with salmorejo as side dish and sprinkled with diced serrano ham. 
11. That is done. Enjoy! 

Hints, Tips, and Tricks

• You can read a detailed recipe for salmorejo by following the link. 
• Do not fry many eggplant slices at the same time. Best is do it in batches in order to not to cool the oil. If the oil is cooled, the eggplant will absorb a lot of oil during frying and they will get soft. 
• Instead of slices, you can prepare eggplant sticks as in the recipe for eggplant with molasses. Otherwise you can fry them with a little flour and / or egg. 
• You must beat the egg well, until there was no trace of white. 

 

Categories: aperitivos recipe verduras

Tags: berenjena gazpacho tapas tomates