Eggplant Parmigiana

After several weeks on the road around Australia, the time has come to travel back to the UK. We have had a brilliant time. Thanks to every one of you who has followed my posts along the way – I hope you’ve enjoyed the food, the photos and the fun, along with some great new sounds. As my tagline says: Good Food, Great Music.

One of the things I am looking forward to is getting back in the kitchen and working on some new dishes, fully armed with the ideas and inspiration I’ve taken from the food we’ve enjoyed on our travels. I have actually had a first attempt this week, from the kitchen at our temporary home in Melbourne, to prepare a meal for some guests.

Influenced by our stay in the Blue Mountains, I was keen to create my own version of the Eggplant Parmigiana dish I enjoyed there (and which you can see a photo of by following the above link).

Parmigiana is eaten widely in bars and cafes in Australia. There are various ways in which it is served, probably the most common being as a topping over a fried chicken breast, sometimes flattened as per a schnitzel. Based on an Italian pasta sauce recipe (brought here long ago by some of the many European settlers who have made Australia their home), it isn’t difficult to see why it’s so popular, being tasty and filling.

I’ve made a few changes in mine from the vegetarian version I ate in Leura: rather than serving crusty bread alongside, I have broken the bread down into croutons, mixing these with the parmesan and mozzarella to give it a crispy, toasted cheesy topping. I’ve also added black olives, which I always think go really well with a rich tomato sauce.

I’m respecting the Aussie lingo in this recipe, so stick with me as I talk about eggplant (a.k.a. aubergine) and capsicum (a.k.a. red pepper). No worries, mate.

Timings

20 mins to prepare, 30 mins in the oven at 180C.

Servings

4 adult servings.

You Will Need

• 2 eggplants (aubergines)
• 1 large onion
• 1 capsicum (red pepper)
• 2 tbsp oil, with more to drizzle
• 1 garlic clove
• 500g tomato passata
• 16 – 18 pitted black olives
• sprinkling of dried mixed herbs
• a few twists of black pepper
• about 1/3 of a crusty baguette
• 50g grated parmesan cheese
• 50g grated mozzarella cheese

Method

1. Switch on the oven to warm up to 180C. Find a shallow casserole dish and set on one side for the moment.
2. Cut the eggplants into diagonal slices, about 1cm thick. Fry for several minutes on each side in 1 tbsp of the oil, until softened.
3. While the eggplants are cooking, warm the rest of the oil in another saucepan. Crush the garlic and chop the onion and capsicum, adding it all to the pan.
4. After a few mins, pour in the passata and sprinkle in the mixed herbs and black pepper. Give it a good stir and let it simmer for about 5 – 10 mins.
5. The eggplant slices should have softened by now. Scrape them into the tomato and veg sauce where they will continue to cook. Chuck in the olives.
6. While you are making the sauce, you can also prepare the crouton topping. Cut the baguette into slices, and then cut each slice into roughly 1cm cubes. Put in a large bowl and sprinkle over the grated cheeses. Mix in with your hands so the cheese is nicely imtermingled with the bread.
7. When the oven is up to temp, and the sauce is looking red and rich, it is time to assemble the parmigiana. Pour the sauce into the casserole dish, and sprinkle over the crouton topping. Drizzle a little oil over, and place in the heated oven for 30 mins.
8. Remove from the oven. It should be looking something like mine in the photo below, and is ready to serve.

Customise it!

Serve with some boiled or steamed green veg of your choice. Add another cheese if you want – some grated blue cheese would give it another interesting taste. Keep the parmesan though, as that’s what gives the dish its name. As ever, some fresh herbs would go well – I only had dried mixed herbs to hand when I made this.

This is me signing off from Down Under. Thank you Australia, you’ve been great, and left us with lots of wonderful new memories, many of which I have shared through my recent posts. We now have an appointment with a Qantas Boeing jet to Heathrow that will last all of 24 hours! See you in a few days, with a new post from back in Good Old Blighty (jet lag permitting 🙂 ).

I’ve loved discovering many new Aussie bands and adding them to the ADK Spotify Playlist. I’ve been especially impressed with These New South Whales, so here is another from them: Cholesterol Heart (God Bless Ya).