Food & Wine
Layered cheesy eggplant bake
This lightened-up version of the classic Italian dish aubergine parmigiana is made with tender, smoky grilled eggplant slices, layered with breadcrumbs and a rich tomato sauce. Serve hot, cut into wedges, with a crisp green salad and a carafe of vino… salute to that!
Serves: Four
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2–3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- A pinch of sugar
- 2 tablespoons red wine or dry marsala
- 750g jar of tomato passata
- 1/2–1 cup vegetable stock (or water)
- 4 medium-sized eggplants (about 700–800 g in total)
- 75–100g dairy-free cheese, either cut into slices or grated, plus extra to garnish
- 1/3 cup basil leaves, plus extra to garnish
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (mixed with 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, optional)
For topping
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Method:
- Warm half the olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, until golden brown and softened.
- Add the garlic and dried herbs, and cook for a further 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Stir in the tomato paste and sugar. Cook for another minute, until the sugar has dissolved, and the tomato paste turns a slightly darker red. Deglaze the pan with the wine or marsala, stirring for about 1 minute to allow the alcohol to evaporate.
- Stir in the passata. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, then immediately reduce the heat to low. Cover and leave to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so the sauce doesn’t stick. Add the stock and mix well. Remove from the heat, season to taste and set aside.
- While the sauce is simmering, prepare the eggplants. Heat your barbecue to medium–high; alternatively, use a chargrill pan. Trim the ends from each eggplant, then slice lengthways into 1 cm strips. Lightly brush each side of the eggplant with the remaining olive oil, then grill in batches for about five minutes on each side, or until slightly charred and tender enough for a knife to pierce the middle easily.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C conventional, or 180°C fan-forced.
- Lightly grease a 25 cm round baking dish.
- Ladle one-quarter of the tomato sauce mixture over the bottom of the dish, then add enough eggplant slices to cover in a single layer. Sprinkle with one-third of the cheese, a few basil leaves and one-third of the breadcrumbs.
- Continue layering with the tomato sauce, eggplant, cheese, basil and breadcrumbs until you’ve used up all your eggplant – make sure your second-last layer is tomato sauce!
- Sprinkle with the topping breadcrumbs to create a crust.
- Drizzle with the olive oil and pop the whole thing in the oven.
- Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the breadcrumb crust is lightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for a few minutes to let the layers fuse; it will be molten hot!
- Use a very sharp knife to cut the eggplant bake into wedges.
- Garnish with extra cheese and basil leaves and tuck in.
Recipe and image courtesy of Taste for Life by Animals Australia. Published by ABC Books, available in store or online.