1 kg of Italian eggplant (the long variety)
6 eggs
200 gr. toasted almonds
200 gr. Amaretti cookies
400 gr. bittersweet chocolate
75 gr. bitter cocoa powder
200 gr. sugar
4 demitasse cups of bitter Italian coffee
1 cup milk
150 gr. candied fruit (citron)
Oil for frying
METHOD:
peel the eggplants and cut them into lengthwise slices (do not make the slices too thin). Fry the slice in very hot oil and allow them to drain well on absorbent paper. When the eggplant is cool, flour them and dip them in the beaten eggs and then fry them again in very hot oil. Allow them to drain on absorbent paper.
Mix the sugar and cocoa powder in a dish and use this mixture to cover the eggplant slices. When the slices have all been passed in the sugar-cocoa mixture, arrange on layer of slices in the bottom a deep, oven-proof dish.
Now grind the almonds, Amaretti cookies and 100 gr. of the bittersweet chocolate and sprinkle some of this mixture over the layer of eggplant. Sprinkle with some of the candied fruit, cut in small pieces. Continue layering the rest of the eggplant slices, sprinkling each layer with the almond-amaretti-chocolate mixture and the candied fruit (leave some of the nut-amaretti-chocolate mixture and some of the candied fruit to garnish the finished dish). When all of the eggplant has been layered, melt the rest of the bittersweet chocolate in the milk, when it is melted add the coffee and mix well. Pour this sauce over the layered eggplant. Sprinkle the top with the rest of the nut-amaretti-chocolate mixture and more candied fruit. Chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.
