Eggplant, peeled and sliced
Oil or lard for frying

For filling
Hard boiled eggs, cut into little pieces
Cheese, cut into little pieces

For topping
Grated cheese
Tomato sauce to taste

"The eggplant should be prepared as for ordinary frying, that is, it should be peeled, sliced and the slices sprinkled with salt and left under a weighted plate for some time to extract the bitter juices. Saute the slices in oil or lard. Line a baking dish with them. Fill the center of the dish with hard boiled eggs and cheese cut into little pieces. Add to this filling enough grated cheese and tomato sauce to flavor it to taste. Cover the top with another layer of the fried eggplant and a little more tomato sauce. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. From Roma Pavilion Restaurant, Chicago."

This recipe was taken from "Practical Italian Recipes, sold for the Benefit of Italian War Orphans," by Julia Lovejoy Cuniberti. It was published in Washington, D.C. in 1918. For the entire copyright-free cookbook see www.archive.org.... P.S. This recipe is very similar to a lasagna dish that is made in Isernia, Molise. My niece's mother-in-law, who was born in Cantalupo, Isernia, layers her lasagna noodles with hard-boiled eggs -- a strange thing, I thought, until I saw this old recipe. Obviously, layering noodles and slices of eggplants with hard-boiled eggs must be a rather traditional way of preparing foods in Italy. Of course, back in 1918, when Cuniberti's cookbook was published, home cooks living in the Italian countryside would only do dishes that included eggs for festive occasions as eggs were very expensive back then. Photo and notes: Mary Melfi.

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