Melanzane Parmigiana with Dolmio 7 Vegetables Sun Ripened Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce

This recipe is based on a Parmigiana I used to have for lunch in an Italian dine-in and takeaway café in the shadow of the Shard in Southeast London (NB: the Italians often shorten the name of the dish to just ‘Parmigiana’). Their Parmigiana was remarkably tasty, and easily provided the sustenance for a young commuter working long hours in London. Their version was quite firm, but still had plenty of sauce. Almost as delightful as the Parmigiana was a lovely mound of rice to help mop-up the sauce. But what really struck me with this dish was that the rice was Italian risotto rice cooked as if it was plain rice – something I now do often, especially with Parmigiana.

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C, Gas 6.
2. Wash the aubergines, dry, and then trim the stalk end and the opposite end with straight sectional cuts. The hold the aubergine lengthwise and slice off a little of each side. Then cut 5 slices lengthwise along the aubergine with a long sharp knife. Each slice should be about 1 cm thick – try to get even thickness slices. Continue like this with the rest of the aubergines.
3. Fill a ramekin or small cup with good olive oil (not extra virgin). Get two large baking trays or shallow oven pans and lay the aubergines out – some overlapping is fine. Then brush each side of the aubergines lightly with the oil. Finally, season the slices with a little salt and pepper.
4. Bake the aubergines in the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the slices are just starting to lightly brown. Turn the slices once during cooking. When they are done, remove from the oven and let them cool slightly.

1. Use a medium size oven dish. Spread some of the sauce evenly on the base of the dish using a spoon. Add a layer of aubergines and spread a little more sauce evenly over the aubergines. Slice the mozzarella thinly and add half the cheese slices to the layer – dotting them over the aubergines evenly. Continue in this way using the sauce evenly between the layers (and the remaining mozzarella). Aim for half a jar of sauce per pan of aubergines (i.e. two cooked aubergines) with perhaps a little more sauce as a final layer.
2. Cover the pan tightly with tin foil and bake in the oven for 35 – 40 minutes, or until the edges are bubbling and the centre looks very hot.
3. Mix the breadcrumbs and Parmesan in a large bowl and season with black pepper. Add two teaspoons of olive oil and mix well with your fingers. Layer this evenly on top of the aubergines. Return to the oven and cook for 10 – 15 minutes or until the topping is evenly and lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cover loosely with the foil and rest for 10 minutes.
4. Serve with plain steamed rice (ideally using Arborio rice) and a dressed green salad.