Eggplant Tomato Bake with Mozzarella
What you'll need
- Eggplant
- Tomato sauce (passata)
- Onions
- High quality mozzarella
- Oil, Salt, Pepper
- Basil
- Thyme (optional)
What you'll do
Dice the onion, heat some oil in a pan and make the onion sweat for a few minutes. Add in the tomato sauce and the basil leaves (chopped). Add in some salt if needed, and simmer until it reduces nicely.
In the meantime, bring a pan to high heat and, after slicing the aubergines in 2 to 5 mm thick slices, and seasoning each slice with salt and pepper, griddle them in the pan with some oil if needed.
Layer the tomato sauce with onion and basil, the eggplant, and some thin slices of mozzarella in an oven dish. You should layer tomatoes, eggplant, and cheese multiple times (2 or 3 layers), with the tomato sauce at the bottom (to prevent the eggplant from sticking to the oven dish) and the mozzarella on top (for maximum cheese crust action).
Bake in the oven at 200 degrees C for around 30 minutes, until the mozzarella on top turns into a nice caramel colour.