This recipe is so worth the effort – oozy mozarella topping, a delicious homemade tomato and pepper sauce, layers of homegrown aubergine and all topped off with crunchy breadcrumbs. So good!
Ingredients: (serve 3-4 as a main)
- 350g fresh cherry/plum tomatoes, halved
- 3 red bell peppers, halved lengthways & deseeded
- 2 clove garlic, crushed
- Half tsp balsamic vinegar
- Half tsp sugar
- Olive oil
- 2-3 medium aubergines, sliced lengthways 0.5cm thick
- 1 pack mozarella (200g)
- 50g Parmesan, grated
- 3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs (optional)
- 1-2 tbsp fresh oregano or thyme, chopped
- Sea salt & pepper
Method:
Make the tomato & pepper sauce:
- Pre-heat the oven to 140c
- Rub the pepper slices in olive oil, season with sea salt and place on a baking tray.
- Put the tomatoes on a baking tray so that they are spread out in a single layer. Give them a good glug of olive oil (1-2 tbsp) and season with sea salt. Shake the tray to coat them all well.
- Slow roast the peppers and tomatoes for 1 hour
- After 1 hour, remove tomatoes from oven and turn heat up to 200c and give peppers a 10-15 min hot blast!
- If tomatoes are very watery, drain off the excess liquid.
- Remove peppers from oven and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, peel off the skins.
- Use a blender to whizz tomatoes and skinless peppers together with the balsamic, sugar, and garlic to make a sauce.
Dry fry the aubergine slices:
- While the tomatoes and peppers are cooking, dry fry the aubergine slices. Heat a non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, dry fry the aubergines in batches, for 2 mins each side until the flesh is evenly toasted on both sides. Set aside on a cooling rack, and continue with the remaining slices until all are cooked.
Make the bake:
- Layer up the bake in a deep dish, approx 20cm x 20cm:
- A layer of aubergines, seasoned with salt and pepper
- A thin layer of sauce
- A generous sprinkle of grated parmesan and some of the chopped herbs
Repeat these layers until you have used up all the aubergine. We normally finish with a layer of aubergine, and save 1tbsp of parmesan for the topping.
2. Once all the layers are in, break up the mozarella and lay evenly over the top.
3. Mix the panko breadcrumbs with any leftover parmesan, and a drizzle of olive oil (to help it go crunchy) and sprinkle this right over the top of the bake.
4. Bake in the oven at 180c for 20-30 mins until the aubergines are soft when you skewer through them with a knife, and the topping is golden and crunchy.
Optional extras:
You could also fry up 1 large onion, sliced, in some olive oil with sea salt and spread between layers. You can easily do this after dry-frying the aubergines and while you’re waiting for the tomatoes to cook.
To make it go further, add a couple of layers of lasagne sheets and mix in 2-3 tbsp of passata with the tomato sauce.