Baked aubergine with tomatoes & mozzarella
- 1kg aubergines
- 1/2 l tomato passata (pureed tomatoes)
- 250g mozzarella
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 70g grated parmesan
- 4/5 leaves of basil
- 30g extra-virgin olive oil
- 300ml oil for frying
- salt and pepper to taste
Wash dry and cut the aubergine into ½ cm thick slices lengthways. Sprinkle them with salt and leave them in a colander with a plate on the top as a weight so that their bitter juice is drawn out. After about an hour, squeeze the slices, rinse and pat them dry. Prepare the tomato sauce: soften the finely-chopped onion and a crushed clove of garlic in 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add half a litre of tomato passata, the basil, season with salt and pepper and cook for 15-20 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Heat enough oil for shallow-frying in a frying-pan over a medium-high heat, and add the aubergine slices in a single layer. Shallow-fry on both sides for a few minutes until the slices are light golden. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat until all the aubergine slices are fried. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C.
Cut 250 gr of mozzarella into slices and keep in the fridge until ready for use. Take an oven dish and ladle a few spoons of tomato sauce into the bottom to cover the base, then arrange alternate layers of aubergine, tomato sauce, a sprinkling of grated parmesan, a little basil and the slices of mozzarella and repeat until all the ingredients are finished. Finish off with a layer of sauce and a sprinkling of Parmesan. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Let it rest for at least two hours then serve.