Aubergine Parmigiana

If you, like us, eat with the seasons, you may have noticed that there's a time of year when fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce. This period is known as the "hungry gap," and it refers to the challenging time between late winter and early spring when the winter crops have been harvested, but the spring crops aren't yet ready.

During the hungry gap when local produce is scarce, we source highly seasonal fruit and vegetables from brothers Alfonso & Piki, who work directly with small scale Italian growers, supporting their local community and farming for flavour!

Difficulty:

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Related Tags

Vegetarian

Ingredients

6 Aubergines
2 Tins of Chopped Tomatoes
1 Onion
2 Garlic Cloves
1 tbsp. Tomato Puree
Mozzarella
Parmesan
Fresh Basil
Quality Olive Oil
Salt
A pinch of sugar

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees & line two trays with baking paper
Thinly slice the aubergines and dip in olive oil
Line the aubergines onto the trays and sprinkle with a good amount of salt. Place in the oven until golden brown.
Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Dice the onion and cook on a low heat with a glug of olive oil & salt
Add the chopped garlic, tomato puree & stir.
After a few minutes, add the tinned tomatoes
Once the sauce has thickened, it is ready. Here you can add a pinch of sugar to reduce the acidity.
Now its time to layer the aubergine parmigiana in an oven dish. Firstly, apply a layer of tomato sauce, then aubergine, mozzarella & basil. Repeat the process. Finally, top the aubergine parmigiana with a generous sprinkle of parmesan.
Cook in the oven for around 20 minutes, until golden.

Enjoy!

Recipe from Julius Roberts.