Crispy eggplant Milanese with red pesto. The perfect dinner

This eggplant milanesa has become the favorite lunch or dinner at home and it is more than easy to prepare, it is delicious and healthy.

You just have to have some ingredients that are so basic that you probably already have them in the refrigerator, so I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Ingredients

For eggplants

• 3 eggplants
• a little extra virgin olive oil
• 100g panko
• 60 g grated Grana Padano
• a little salt
• a little freshly ground black pepper
• 3 slices of cheese (optional)

For the red pesto

• 100 g roasted red peppers (I use piquillo peppers and I love how they turn out)
• 1 jar of dried tomatoes in olive oil
• a few branches of fresh basil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 100 g of Grana Padano
• 70 g almonds

Directions

For the eggplants, cut each eggplant in half lengthwise. Lightly brush with olive oil and bake at 180ºC for 30-35 minutes until tender, or in an air fryer for 25 minutes at 180ºC.

In a plate we mix the panko with the Grana Padano with a little freshly ground black pepper.

When the eggplants are ready, we remove the skin, keeping the stem. We put a slice of cheese in the middle and flatten it lightly with a fork.

We dip the eggplants in beaten egg and then in the panko and Grana Padano mixture on both sides.

We place them on a baking tray with absorbent paper or in the air fryer basket and spray with a little olive oil spray.

We put them back in the oven for 15 minutes at 190ºC or in the air fryer at 190ºC for 12 minutes until they are crispy and lightly golden.

While we prepare the red pesto. We put all the ingredients in the bowl of a processor or food processor and blend all the ingredients until we obtain a uniform paste.

When the eggplants are ready, we serve them on a base of red pesto, and we add a little olive oil, some black olives, some chopped fresh basil leaves and grated Grana Padano and enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

• You can separate them and freeze them, and bake them whenever you need.
• You can make them without adding the cheese filling or change the filling to cooked or Iberian ham.
• Difficulty: easy
• Preparation time: 40 minutes alone in the oven
• Servings: 3