Chipotle Aubergine Parmigiana

by Anna Jones from Easy Wins: 12 flavour hits, 125 delicious recipes, 365 days of good eating (4th Estate)

Photography: Matt Russell

I love parmigiana. I love its layers, its buttery aubergine, the carefree amount of olive oil. Everything. In this parmigiana the aubergine is griddled, not fried, then doused in olive oil (though you use a good amount less than if it was fried). The griddling sounds like a job but it’s pretty easy to do and you can start them off while you make the sauce. I’ve added some smoky chipotle in adobo here, which backs up the smoky notes of the griddled aubergine and rounds it all off. It’s far from traditional. I appreciate that buying 3 balls of mozzarella or vegan mozzarella can be expensive and it’s a lot of cheese. I’ve made this with just two balls of mozzarella, making a thinner layer of cheese, and it was still great.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

4 large aubergines (1.4kg in total)

olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced

2 × 400g tins good-quality plum tomatoes or 800g fresh tomatoes,

peeled & roughly chopped

1-2 tablespoons chipotle in adobo (depending on your love of heat)

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

a small bunch of oregano (15g) or 1 tablespoon of good, dried oregano

3 balls mozzarella (375g) or 300g vegan mozzarella, drained and thinly sliced

120g Parmesan or vegan Parmesan-style cheese, grated

100g fresh breadcrumbs (about 4 slices of bread)

Method

Prepare and griddle the aubergines Top and tail 4 large aubergines, then cut them lengthways into 5mm- 7mm-thick slices. Generously drizzle them with olive oil and toss to coat well. Get a cast-iron griddle pan or barbecue really hot and, working in batches, griddle the aubergines first on one side, then the other, until cooked through and charred in places - each side will take about 4 minutes, so settle in. As they are ready, lay them on a large tray or plate and, when they're still warm, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with oil.

Make the tomato sauce

While the aubergines are grilling, get your tomato sauce on. In a deep pan, fry 1 small finely chopped onion and 2 peeled and finely sliced cloves of garlic gently in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, until soft and sweet, then add 2 × 400g tinned or 800g chopped fresh tomatoes, 1-2 tablespoons chipotle in adobo, I tablespoon red wine vinegar and half a small bunch of fresh, or ½ tablespoon dried, oregano. Give it a good stir, mashing up the tinned tomatoes if necessary, and simmer for 25 minutes, until rich and thick.

Preheat the oven about now to 200°C/180°C fan, so it is ready at the same time as the sauce.

Layer up the parmigiana

Spread a little tomato sauce in the bottom of a roughly 30cm x 20cm ovenproof dish, then cover with a layer of the charred aubergines, overlapping the slices slightly.

Cover this with another thin layer of tomato sauce - use the back of a spoon to spread it out evenly, then top with a layer of mozzarella slices from 1 ball of mozzarella and ⅓/ (40g) of the grated Parmesan.

Repeat with another layer of aubergine, sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan and continue the layers until all the ingredients are used up. You should end up with three layers of each.

Make the breadcrumbs

Blitz 100g fresh breadcrumbs with the other half-bunch of fresh, or the remaining ½ tablespoon dried, oregano, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt and toss together. Then sprinkle over the top.

Cook the parmigiana

Bake the parmigiana in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes, then remove and leave to rest for at least an hour before serving. I served mine with a lemon-dressed green salad.