Thursday. 08.10.2015. 'Aubergine Parmigiana.'

This recipe comes from 'Gino's Veg Italia!' by Gino D'Acampo. Page 187.

This dish is a big favourite of mine which I love ordering at the restaurant however I never made it at home. So I was very happy to have this recipe and try it for myself but also to share my love of it to my partner. As the picture in the book didn't look that fantastico, I relied completely on my efforts and that recipe to shine through taste alone. But to be honest a cheesy bake is not about looks but pure comfort. 

Sliced Aubergine.

Now, one of the key element of the dish is a vegetable which is I must admit one of the least liked in this household: the Aubergine. It hardly ever makes it to the shopping trolley or any online orders. However I do love Aubergine  in parmigiana so I went on a small incentive to grow more liking to that veg in our home. I tried to grow some this year to that effect but if I did get a plant, I did not get any veg from it. But we will keep trying until we get a nice aubergine, so next year, we will plant them again.

The Prep.

So the ingredients for this recipe are 3 Sliced Aubergines, olive oil a fair amount, I used more than the 4 tbsp indicated just by oiling every slice of aubergine before grilling them, 70g of Parmesan, 2 ball of mozzarella, (1 more from the recipe for extra cheezyness), 20 g of breadcrumbs. 

Plum Tomatoes.

I changed the tomato sauce a little though for I had six nice plum tomatoes to use up. So with them went 2 garlic cloves, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, 15 basil leaves and salt and black pepper seasoning. The taste this sauce delivered to the dish compared to how easy it was to make and let it simmer for 20 minutes was amazing. 

Olive Oil Brushing of the slices.

The entire process is very well explained by Gino in his recipe. You start by doing the tomato sauce and while it is simmering you can start brushing with olive oil the aubergine slices.

The Griddling.

Then comes the griddling of the slices of Aubergines on a cast-iron chargrill pan. For me this part was the most technically demanding, but with a hob fully organised it makes the task easier. The trick here is to have the griddle pan very hot. Also the time spent oiling the slices of Aubergine makes all the difference at this stage so it is definitely not worth skipping.

A little Hob Organisation.

Griddled Aubergine Slices.

After that stage when all your slices of Aubergines got those beautiful griddled marks on, it is the time to build up the dish, layer after layer. Gino's recipe gives all the guidance for it very clearly which is fantastico.  I used 2 rather than 1 mozzarella ball (like in the recipe) just because we are fond of them. 

Breadcrumbs with a difference.

For the breadcrumbs, the one I used are shop bought, from Sainsbury's and flavoured: lemon and black pepper. I always have a pot of those in the cupboard for we enjoy their taste. However proper breadcrumbs are easy to do and it is my plan to make batches of those ready to be used when needed, and yes, I will flavour them with lemon zest and cracked black pepper. 

Building up the layers pic 1.

Building up the layers, pic 2.

Once the lovely layers of tomato sauce, Parmesan, Aubergine, and seasoning are repeated about three times, you finish off the dish with the rest of the tomato sauce  and the Mozzarella broken heavenly/evenly all over and 'Et voilà'. 



After 40 minutes in the oven at gas mark 4/180 C and 20 mins resting inside it, we had the Aubergine Parmigiana. 

Aubergine Parmigiana à la Gino D'Acampo: the Result.

For the first time I made it, I absolutely adored it. I admit that the entire process can appear demanding but face with the result in the end it is all worth it and I will keep that recipe of Gino D'Acampo as a standard one for Aubergine Parmigiana in my home. The only complaint my alter ego had was that the dish was completely vegetarian so he would have loved maybe just  a layer of prosciutto to give it a five. So it was a four for him on this aspect alone. However like me who is not a great fan of Aubergine, he found that this recipe did make him appreciate that veg much more. 

For me, it was, of course, a high five. We will do this recipe again and maybe with the prosciutto like suggested.