Aubergine, Tomato and Cheese Bake

Aubergine, Tomato and Cheese Bake

This is my variation of the classic Italian aubergine melanzane dish.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 large or 2 small aubergines

Tomato sauce (see below for recipe)

60g mozzarella, thinly sliced or grated

60g fontina or cheddar cheese, thinly sliced or grated

40g grated Parmesan cheese

Olive oil               

Salt

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.

2. Slice the aubergines into circles, about 5mm thick.

3. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the sliced aubergines for about 5 minutes on each side - until they are soft all the way through. (Aubergines need a lot of oil while being cooked – just keep adding oil until they stop “drinking it up”. After they have been cooked pat the slices dry with kitchen paper to get as much of the oil out as you can).

4. Sprinkle some salt onto the aubergine slices.

5. Put a layer of aubergine slices into an oven proof dish.

5. Spread some tomato sauce (see below) onto the aubergines, and then spread half of the Fontina (or cheddar), Parmesan and mozzarella cheese on top of the tomato sauce.

6. Repeat the process again – i.e. add a second layer of aubergines and spread the remaining tomato sauce, and then the remaining cheese on top of the tomato sauce (as on the first layer).

7. Bake it all at 180˚C for 15 minutes and then brown the cheese under a grill for a couple of minutes before serving.

Tomato sauce recipe:

Ingredients:

75g of tomato puree

75g tomato passata

2 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs

¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper

¼ - ¾ teaspoon of chilli powder

¼ teaspoon of salt 

Method for tomato sauce:

Mix all the sauce ingredients together well in a bowl.

Additional Information

Fontina is an Italian cheese that is rich and creamy with a nutty flavour, and it melts wonderfully. It was originally recommended to me by a local Italian delicatessen, and I haven’t looked back since! The combination of Fontina with mozzarella is superb; also the mozzarella reduces the cost of this dish as it is more reasonably priced than the Fontina. If you can’t get hold of Fontina cheese, use cheddar instead.

It is vital to make sure that the aubergine slices are thoroughly cooked during the initial frying process – the aubergine should be soft enough to almost melt in your mouth after being baked, which it won’t do if there are any raw bits left.

Health benefits of aubergines

Aubergines are strictly speaking classified as berries! They are a good source of fibre, folic acid, potassium and anthocyanins (an anti-oxidant) – all of which are beneficial to health.