Hearty Eggplant Parmigiana Bake

I go through phases of being addicted to certain foods. Currently I'm completely stuck on eggplant. Soft and creamy when it's cooked properly, it's amazing how rich tasting a vegetable can be! And it's good for ya, so it's a win-win situation for me really. I end up eating it religiously for a few weeks then move on to the next thing, but it comes back around every few months, like an old loyal friend. Oh eggplant.

Anywho, I've done the eggplant schnitzel thang, and I felt it was time to layer and bake. I ate it like lasagne, with some veg on the side the first time but then realised, hey, eggplant is a vegetable, why double up? I made up for that by adding a ton of mozzarella ;)

Baked Eggplant Parmigiana

Serves 4

1 large eggplant
1 700ml jar tomato passata
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 pinch thyme (dried or fresh
250g grated or slice mozzarellla
1 handful of breadcrumbs (optional)
salt & pepper
olive oil


Slice eggplant in to ~1.5cm slices, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill under a medium heat in oven or on stove top until colored and nearly cooked through.

Meanwhile, saute the sliced garlic in olive oil for a few moments, add passata, thyme, salt and pepper, and let it bubble away on a low heat reducing slightly.

Layer sauce, eggplant and cheese in a medium baking dish (I used a square cake tin), in that order, and repeat ending with a layer of sauce, cheese then breadcrumbs if desired.

Bake at 200°c for about 20mins or until golden on top and eggplant is melting and soft.

Rest for 10mins before serving or it will slop everywhere.


PS: It's even better re-heated.

Vegetable Lasagna

My housemate is vegetarian so we often eat vegetarian meals. We took a trip to the Adelaide Central Markets recently and bought ingredients for lasagna. It turned out sooo delicious however the photos are pretty average because you can't see all the layers of veg! :( We used eggplant, zuchinni, pumpkin and mushrooms all pre-roasted and baked between chewy pasta sheets with a tomato sauce and dotted with pieces of salty Danish feta. Mmm!

Lasagna!

Serves 4-6

1 large zuchinni
1 large eggplant
300g button mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
500g pumkin
1 700ml jar tomato passata (tomato puree)
1 cup crumbled Danish feta
250g dried lasagna sheets
olive oil
salt and pepper


Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Slice eggplant (around 5mm), pumkin and zuchinni (around 2mm thin) (easily done with a mandoline), lay on to baking trays (you'll need a few) and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 10-15mins or until softened and lightly browned but not fully cooked. They will further cook in the lasagna.

Meanwhile, saute mushrooms and chopped garlic in some olive oil and set aside.

In a lasagna pan assemble layers of roasted eggplant, zuchinni, mushroom and pumpkin as you see fit adding tomato puree in with layers to moisten (you might not need it all) and distributing the feta evenly. Make sure to leave a little to sprinkle on top though!

Turn oven down to 180 and bake covered for 40-45mins or until pasta is cooked but not soggy.

Leave to sit for 15mins before cutting and serving!

Tip: The pan I use for lasagna makes 6 perfectly portioned slices but if you only have a larger pan then you may want to increase the amount of ingredients so that it's nice and thick!

Malaysian Style Pork and Eggplant Curry

This is my favourite curry at the moment to make (and eat), it is soooo delicious and so insanely easy!

I know a lot of curry pastes call for labor intensive crushing in a pestle and mortar but every time I've made this I've just used my trusty old mini food processor and whiz it all together.

Once you make the paste, marinate it with the meat then when you're ready to go cook it all up in a pot with the coconut milk and cinnamon sticks. You can simplify it even further by using chicken for quicker cooking - which I have tried with great success or make it vegetarian/vegan by substituting with tempeh or tofu - also tried and v. delicious (and soy for fish sauce, unless you have the veg. type available).

I found the recipe online somewhere and ended up making some adaptations, then lost the original recipe and had to re-write it from memory (even after some intense googling I couldn't find it again) so I think I can safely assume (hope) that it's been personalised enough for me to take the credits.

Recipe

Serves 6

1kg pork cubed (I like forequarter because it's cheap and has no bones)
1 cup chicken stock
1 400ml can coconut milk or cream
1 large/2 small eggplant cubed
1 1/2 cinnamon sticks

For the paste:

1 onion or 6 scallions/spring onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp sized knob of ginger
3 tsp of turmeric
6 birds eye chilies (more or less to taste, or chili flakes if you can't get fresh)
4 tbsp of Chinese five spice
1 1/2 tbsp shrimp paste/fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind paste
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the bulkier paste ingredients like ginger, onions and garlic in to more manageable pieces (to make sure you don't end up with a big chunk of ginger)

Whiz all paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth. If you only have a large food processor I would recommend either doubling the recipe and freezing half the paste or busting out the pestle and mortar.

Mix paste together with pork and set in the refrigerator for a few hours/overnight.

Saute in large pot until fragrant and paste is cooked. Add cinnamon sticks coconut milk/cream and stock, if sauce is too thick add some water/extra stock. Bring to boil then simmer for 1-2 hours depending on cut of pork or until pork is tender.

Add cubed eggplant 20mins before end of cooking time and simmer until soft.

Remove cinnamon sticks and serve over steamed rice!


Tip: If you're wanting to cut down on cooking time, substitute pork for chicken thighs and add eggplant along with coconut milk etc. cook until eggplant is soft and serve!