The Ultimate In Italian Comfort Food

Melanzane alla Parmigiana is a firm favorite in my eyes; however, with a carnivore as a father I have never been able to convert him to aubergine in the past. While I love Melanzane alla Parmigiana I have only ever eaten it in my beloved Italy. It is such a great comfort food so as I have been feeling a bit rotten I thought that I would give it a go. And how easy it was! I will admit that I didn’t magic the recipe up…I did a bit of research- then gave up and called a friend in Campania. The recipe would serve four people; with a beautiful riccola salad and some freshly baked ciabatta (it served three of us very generous portions, with a little left over for tomorrows lunch!).

It is such an easy dish that can be made ahead- kept in the fridge- and then whacked in the oven half an hour before serving. Not only is it easy, its cheap! I worked out the costing’s of the Melanzane alla Parmigiana (excluding salad and bread) using the exact ingredients, from exactly where I bought them (some Asda, some Tesco, some Waitrose), but most of us have half of them in our store cupboards. £0.28 per serving (based on four servings per dish).

Yes 28p!

So the old ‘I cant afford to eat healthily’ card has to be tossed in the bin because it clearly isn’t valid anymore! A total ‘dummie’ could cook this, it’s so cheap that its almost free and it’s delicious. There is no reason not to try it…

Ingredients

1 Aubergine (aprox 300g)

1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes

1 Red Onion

2 Cloves of Garlic

1 Slice of Bread

100g Mozarella

50g Parmesan

Pinch of Salt

Pinch of Pepper

Pinch of Ground Nutmeg

Sprinkle of Dried Oregano

Method

Wash and slice the aubergine into half-centimeter rounds with a good knife.

Heat a frying pan and dry fry the aubergine in small batches. Its important to not over load your frying pan as the aubergine may go a little soggy.

Remove all of the aubergine and put it to one side.

In the same frying pan, dry fry the onion and garlic. If they start to stick just pop in a splash of water. This saves on the ‘hidden calories’ in oil…save the olive oil for your salad dressing!

Once the onions are cooked through take them off the heat and put them to one side.

Again, in the same frying pan…tip a tin of chopped tomatoes and your spices and seasoning.

Cook them down until they have reduced slightly and allow the mix to cool.

While your individual components are cooling down- place your parmesan and bread in a food processor to make a fine, cheesy crumb.

Now its time to construct… layer it up in the order: aubergine, onion, tomato sauce, mozzarella. You should get a few series of layers out of it…I got about four.

Once all of your components are used up, sprinkle the cheese crumb on the top and bake it for about half an hour at 180 (fan). It should be bubbling up at the sides and beautifully crisp on the top.

Serve with freshly baked ciabatta and a simple riccola salad, dressed with good quality olive oil and (if you can get it) Belazu balsamic.

That is it…I’m not going to say anymore because you need to run to the kitchen and get cooking- you don’t want to wait!

xo