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Aubergine Parmigiana

A couple of weeks ago Paul came home from another “Netti wanted to go shopping” trip with a few bits he’d picked up whilst waiting for her. Amongst these sundry items were a couple of random aubergines he’d bought because they were a pretty colour. Whilst I agreed; they were a gorgeous deep purple; I wondered what he thought I could do with them other than the base of a moussaka. They’re not exactly an everyday vegetable you can plonk next to your gravy smothered pork chop and mash are they? Taking to the trusty t’internetweb for something interesting to do with them I came across several recipes for Aubergine Parmigiana. It looked simple and it looked tasty. It also meant another trip to the shops for the rest of the ingredients.

Armed with everything I needed I set about preparing the dish; although my first attempt was far from perfect. Here I realised how I have been prepping my aubergines all wrong. I should have been slicing them lengthways, not acrossways. That way I get bigger slices. Duh! Anyway, once sliced I salted them and popped them in a bowl to drain. I wanted to use the colander but I couldn’t find it no matter how hard I searched. Turns out Paul had it in the garage, full of soil encrusted potatoes from the allotment. Whilst the salt was doing its stuff on the aubergines I made the really easy to make tomato sauce and grated and sliced the cheeses. I started to assemble the dish by spreading a little of the sauce on to the bottom of my baking dish; it was at this point I realised the big downside to a dual drawer air fryer and that I would have to go traditional and bake it in the oven. I rinsed off and dried the aubergines and started to layer them over the sauce, forgetting to sauté them first. Then I made the mistake of adding another layer of the sauce before adding the ricotta which I then couldn’t spread, so it ended up being scattered over the dish in big blobs. As I finished my layers with the mozzarella I realised I hadn’t left myself enough Parmesan to sprinkle over the top so I chucked on some panko breadcrumbs I’ve had lurking on the pantry for yonks before bunging the lot into the oven. Since I hadn’t pre-cooked the aubergine I left it in a little longer than 30 minutes hoping they would soften during baking. Although the aubergine was a little al dente the whole thing turned out quite well and next time I will get it right. 

I used a combination of two recipes from BBC Food and The Guardian

Ingredients

For the aubergine

  • 2 medium sized aubergines
  • 100g ricotta
  • 100g parmesan, grated
  • 100g buffalo mozerella, sliced
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • Salt

For the sauce

  • 2 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 heaped tsp lazy garlic
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 125ml red wine

Method

  1. Slice the aubergines lengthways about ¼ inch thick, sprinkle with salt and place in a colander to drain for 30 minutes.
  2. In the meantime add the oil to a large frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic until soft.
  3. Add the chopped tomatoes, oregano and red wine and simmer until the sauce thickens.
  4. Pre-heat the oven to 200C
  5. Rinse and pat dry the aubergine then sauté on both sides until golden.
  6. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce  into the bottom of the baking dish then add a layer of aubergine. 
  7. Spread half the ricotta on top and sprinkle with Parmesan.
  8. Repeat the layers until all the aubergine has been used, ending with a layer of tomato sauce. 
  9. Top with the sliced mozzarella and breadcrumbs if using and bake until the top is golden and bubbling, around 25 minutes.
  10. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. 
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