Think Polish, cook Italian. Aubergines.

For some light, veggie meal and frustration-free cooking one must try an aubergine bake.

Based on a popular Italian dish I ate in Rome here’s its simplified version. Now, when I was putting a recipe together I googled the dish and actually found a very promising one by Jamie (check here).

A pic before..

And after

200 gram mozzarella cheese

2 eggplants

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 garlic cloves

fresh basil (I didn’t have! I used dried one and used parley to garnish.. )

dried oregano

salt, pepper, olive oil

1 beaten egg

 

Slice aubergines in a long chunks and grill them for 10 mins on a hot grill pan (don’t have – I  just fried them on 1 tablespoon of olive) . On a separate pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive and add crushed garlic. Let it free the aroma (3 mins) and add tomatoes and tomato purée. Add oregano, half basil, salt and pepper and cook on a small heat for 10-14 mins. Place half aubergines in an oven-friendly dish and cover with tomato sauce. Cover with the remainder aubergines and top with sliced mozzarella (all right, they usually use parmesan but mozzarella is a lighter and cheaper option). Cover with beaten egg and bake for approx. 40-45 mins in 180 Celcius. Watch the cheese as it gets burned: the best it’s to keep it under the cover for 30 mins and then let it brownish for another 10-15 min. Decorate with basil. To be served with a cooled vino rosso ..