Full transcript of “How to Make MARINATED EGGPLANTS Like a Sicilian Nonno (Melanzane Sott'Olio)”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 Sicilian marinated eggplants, one of Italy bestkept secret. And Filippo here, the Sicilian ambassador, is going to show you how to make it. Absolut. These are sensational and you won't be able to buy this at the shop. No way. No way. They have to come here to to um Well, now they watch the video, they can make it. Yeah. Today we're going to do the eggplant under oil. We're going to do my way because it's a lot of different way that you can do melanchani. And the way that
0:45 there are that I'm going to do it for me is the best. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to show you. It's a little secret. Believe it or not, it's mild and female. And you can see the bottom of the melanzana, which if you work it out yourself, which is the male and female. The mild sometimes it bitter. So, a lot a lot of uh people they prefer to use the female, but it's very rare. When you go to the fruit shop, you don't find the female. You find all male. This type of melanchi I grow them myself because I got the seeds because they the best. This type of melani after I show you what's the difference between this one
1:32 and this one. You see even the color is a bit different. This is more light pink and this is a darker. That's why I prefer when I do the melanchi I do my melani because the better than than the other quality of melani. I'm going to do a little demonstration. It takes two days to do this type of melanini. What you do, you peel them and if you hold them by the stem because it's easier it it's easier to peel them. See the difference between this egg this melenzana or eggplant the color the color of the flesh it's nice and white cut the bottom to see look at the
2:19 difference between this one that one and this one [Music] see it's green this is another variety of melons on see the skin is different color see it's it's it between white and green, you know. [Music] Now, we're going to slice them of 10 to 12 mil. Don't worry you think that if 12 mil will will be too thick because when you put them under white 12 mil they're going to reduce themsel in two ms the
3:04 next step is depends how many melanzani you do you know this is only a few so I use a small bucket put them in the bucket okay now because it is only a few I use a smaller bucket you put them flat And you put salt. Put salt. Is that just table salt? Yeah. Or rock salt. Sea salt. Yeah. Sea salt. Yeah. But this is bit thick. But I use the thinner thinner salt. You think that it's a lot of salt. They're going to be salty. That No, because they're going to release a lot of water and that that salty is going to is going to vanish. Go with the water. Go with the water. Yeah. You put a ta on
3:50 top. Yeah. Put a tea towel on top. A little round thing made to put on top of it for weight. If you haven't got anything heavy, you can fill up a bottle of water, which is a 5 L container actually. Yeah. So, be 5 kilos. So, and then you put it on top. You're going to leave it overnight. So you do I do this in the afternoon and you're going to leave it overnight. So they're going to they're going to release a lot of water. Now I show you the one that I did yesterday. So the one I did yesterday there was about 15 kilo melon. Okay.
4:35 This this thing was full. That's a professional uh storage barrel. Yeah. The weight out. It weights. And this this is about 15 kilo only. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Only this. So you really got the water out. Yeah. Have a look how much water did they release. Wow. That's a lot of water. Yeah. Look. Bitter. Oh yeah. Look at Oh, they shrunk. They shrunk. Look. They're so flat now. Look how flat they are. Wow. Look how flat they are. This was 14 mil. Look. There's nothing left. Nothing left. Now this is the next step. You have to get the water ready. water and vinegar. Those eggplant that I got there, there were about three boxes full. And what I'll do, I use two liters
5:24 of white vinegar and six lers of water. Three times more water. Three to one. Three type uh parts of water in one part of vinegar. Okay. I guess if we do a small batch, we work it out. You're going to now get six three times that bottle of water. Now, three bottle of water. That's for the amount of eggplant. But why why are we doing this process now? To to wash the the the salt and and the vinegar give the little bit of flavor. Flavor. Yeah. So, if we use too much vinegar or too much water, it's still okay. No. Too much vinegar, then it tasted really Yeah.
6:13 And that's six lers water and 2 lers of vinegar. Now we wait until this boils. Show us how they are. Look. Look at that. Beautiful. Wow. See the difference between the green the green um and and the white eggplant. Yeah. You can tell. See how much how much water did that they release. [Music] [Applause] Now the water is boiling. This procedure
7:00 that I'm going to do now is very very important. I put the eggplant in the water just for 30 seconds just to wash them not to cook them. If you leave them to bit longer then the eggplant they go soft and they don't taste nice. [Music] This is just to to wash them and at the same time because there is vinegar in the water they get the little bit t the little bit of taste of the vinegar you know. So less than a minute it's done. Now we're going to throw them in the in the basket
7:45 there to drain the water because what happened with the with the eggplant when they shrunk they become like a sponge. So when you put them in the water they they uh absorb the water they absorb the water you know the water. So, what we're going to do, going to put a thing on top of it. More white. More white. You see how much water now they're going to release. Interesting. Yeah. Comes out already. Oh, yeah. Look at that. They look How long do we do this for? We're going to leave them for 5 minutes. Okay. 5 minutes. In five minutes. Lots of water. Oh, wow. Look at that.
8:32 the water that we don't want. Lift the weight. This thing here is about 25 kilos. Yeah. Wow. And this is about 20 kilo. This one. What we're going to do, [Music] we are going to lay them flat on this towel for about 6 hours to to dry to dry a little bit. Then play them. [Music] Now what I left to do, I'm going to cover them because I don't want any flies to go on it. Always be always good to protect them. We have to prepare the ingredients that
9:18 we're going to mix with the eggplant will be chilies. We have to chop in small pieces. Yeah. Garlic in small pieces. And then I put a little branch of basil oregano which I got the oregano here in my backyard. I'm going to put them in the jugs and then I top it up with olive oil. People they they use just to make sure [Music] that the goats Oh, that rubber inside. Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, it's got a sealer. Yeah. Which is uh See, they got Yeah. See, they got the white rubber around it. Yeah. Can see. Yeah. And so it seals really properly. Keeps it. Yeah. Maybe keeps longer, too.
10:04 So, Falippo is cutting the chili into small pieces. You don't have to use chili if you don't want to. I'm lucky I get to help Filippo with this. Gave me a task cutting the garlic. Now we're going to put some chilies, garlic, oregano, spu. See, you can smell the oregano. I wish they could. And a few leaves of basil. Now we're going to put it put the eggplant in those jars. In the jars. Look, this is the eggplant that we put this morning to dry. Yeah, they're dry, Filipo. They're ready. put a little bit of moisture, but they're dry, you know.
10:52 So, when we put them in the jars, then we top it up with olive oil. So, yeah, a little bit of moisture is okay. Yeah. But they're not soggy like before, you know. Yes. This is the last step. You put the eggplants, you try to put them flat. Put it flat. Yeah. Put them flat in the jars. When you put a few layers, about five, six layers. So what you do you put half spoon of garlic, half spoon of chilies and little bit of oregano and few leaves of basilugu. And then you keep on going another few
11:39 layers. You li five six layers [Music] and do the same the same thing again. Half spoon of garlic, chilies, oregano, another few leaves of basil. And then see the ch is nearly full. Okay. And this is ready to top it up with olive oil. Well, we're going to put the olive oil the last. So, we're going to do the same thing again. What what I'm going to do, I'm going to fill up all the smaller jars because they're more handy to use
12:26 them. So, a few layers of uh eggplant, little half spoon of garlic, oregano, chilies, and few leaves of basil. The same thing again. Another few chili, oregano, garlic, and a few leaves. Okay. You always put eggplant on top to close. I like to lock all of them. [Music]
13:17 Popsicle. What are they? Popsicle. They um sticks uh that you put them to keep to to keep the eggplant firm. Oh, don't move. Okay. Okay. So, they don't float, you know. Okay. So, you put a few across. See? And the the eggplant they firm down. Okay. They don't go anywhere. Now, this little one, I use the smaller one cuz you know what happened when you you put the oil then the melon they rise up, you know. So these thicks they keeps uh they keep them down. I guess it's an important detail again.
14:04 It's an important detail you can't miss. What are you doing now, Philippo? Now we're going to top it up with olive oil. Cover them up. Extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil, of course. So we top her up cuz the olive oil has to cover the eggplant. We wait until the oil goes all the way down. Go through and then I go over again. So this is what's happening right now. As you can see, see the bubbles. The oil is finding a way to go all the way down. And when the oil reached the bottom, you know, it's not on top here anymore, we can refill and put more. This gentleman is asking me,
14:51 do you think everybody's gonna like what I do? Keeping the traditions alive. I do love it. And if you do, write a comment below. Say, "Thank you, Philippo. Thank you, Phillip, for sharing your passion, your traditions with us." Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate what you do. It's because of people like Filippo that we can keep traditions alive. Every family tradition should stay with you for the next generations. Put the top on. Put the cup. Yeah. But don't don't not not close it. Close it. Yeah. Okay. Because I don't want anything to fall in there, you know. Why are you not locking them? Why you not closing them? Yeah. No, because wait another probably 10 minutes. Yeah. In case if the oil still less to penetrate,
15:38 you know, cuz I don't want them to be dry on top, you know, but I want the oil to cover them because if you don't cover with the oil, they can dry out. Probably they can go bad, you know, they they change color and then just put the cap on. So, so think rubbish won't fall in, especially flyers. There's a few flies around. Oh, look at that. Is it time to taste? Taste. Yeah. Time to eat. Taste. Yeah. Look at that. Yes, baby. How long can you keep them in the jars for Filipino? I reckon up to one year, you know, but not because you can eat them straight away. So you don't have to wait a month or so before you can eat them, you know, because you always keep them at room temperature. Yeah. Room
16:24 temperature because if you put them in the fridge because it's olive oil that I topper up, the olive oil goes hard. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, nice panino. That That's the best way to eat it, huh? [Music] Afternoon. Tea is ready. Now, now we're going to taste it. Oh, the best time other video. Thank you for this amazing lesson. Cheers. Cheers, Filipo. This wonderful, man. Let's see. Smells delicious. [Music] So what we say we say that a Sicilian way say
17:10 [Laughter] it's delicious. It doesn't need anything else. Of course some pruto will be good in this too or some salami cheese. You can be free to do that. But it's just beautiful as it is. You will never be able to buy this from the shop. I guarantee you nobody sells this at the shop. You see the um the vinegar. You can taste the vinegar bit strong. You can taste the vinegar, but it's not too strong. It's not over. Not like it's pleasant. Thank you so much, Filipo. Thank you for sharing this marvelous experience with me and everybody else. Thank you. Now you can make it at home. Oh, yeah. Oh, theres has got something for us. What's this, Teresa? What did you bring? Just coffee. Coffee. A little break for us? Yes.
17:55 Okay. Do we have a Filippo? Okay. This is my backyard. See, that's what I spend a lot of time and I'm happy. See, this is the eggplant. Ooh, what's that? What is this? What is that? This is the mother. I'm hold I'm going to get the seeds from this one. See, this is a female. Look. Oh, so you grow on purpose is big. Big big mother. This one. So, I'm going to get the seeds from this one for next year. Incredible. This variet of chilies. How long there? Yeah. Actually, we'll have to pick some because we will have to put them with the eggplant. Oh, we put with the marinated eggplant. Yeah. Yeah. And look the size of the chili. Yeah. Wow.
18:42 Awesome. So, you got u small chilies in black and red. So, and these chilies about 3 years old, the plants. Philippa, what have you got there? We got basilico. Yeah. Chilies very colorful and very hot. Oh, it is the kucha land. See, this is the kucha that I broke the record. But not not this one. The one that I broke the record was from up here and was touching the ground and I had to dig a hole. Who's this young fella here? H this this was my first record. Wood regard chilies just part of the garden's magic.
19:28 Filipo, you're a legend. I got the regard of the longest chili. Which this chili? This ones? This one. So that one there was from here touching the tape. Yeah. Well, double the size. Double the size. I want to measure this just for curiosity. It was 27 cm. Oh, it's a baby. So that one was double up to here. Nearly nearly double. Yeah. Please write a comment for our wonderful Filippo. Thank you, Phillip. Very happy to to do videos with you. Do we want to see more of Filippo? I do. He can make salami. He can make wine. He makes so much more. So the next the next we do salami. You want to see salami? I do. And then I give you another
20:14 surprise. We want surprises. So thank you so much for watching this episode. I will see you in the next Vincenzo plate video recipe. Eggplant from India.
