French Tian D Aubergines Gratin Of Aubergineseggplant Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and rub 1 tablespoon of the olive oil into a 9-by-9-inch or equivalent casserole dish.
• Tightly layer the eggplants, onions, and tomatoes vertically up-right, starting and ending with the eggplant. Make three or four rows, depending on the size of your pan, until the dish is filled tightly with vegetables.
• Crush the garlic, basil, salt, pepper, and 4 tablespoons of the olive oil together, and gently and generously rub into the stacked vegetables. Then scatter the bay leaves and thyme all over.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove the pan, and carefully pour out the water that has accumulated.
• Sprinkle with the remaining olive oil, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes, or until the eggplant is cooked. You can also, if you wish, top it with grated cheese for the last 15 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 F/230 C or Gas Mark 8.
• Lightly grease the Tian or an oven proof dish with olive oil.
• Cook the aubergine slices in hot olive oil, turning as necessary until they are golden brown on both sides & well cooked through. Drain them well on absorbent paper & allow to cool before assembling the Tian.
• Cheese Custard: Beat together the cottage cheese, grated Italian cheese, eggs & crème fraiche. Season with salt & black pepper to taste.
• Mix the tinned tomatoes with the passata & add the grated or finely chopped garlic.
• Now you can start to assemble the Tian - start with a little of the tomato sauce & then some aubergine slices; tear the basil leaves into small pieces & scatter over with basil flowers if available. Keep layering the dish with the tomato sauce & aubergines & fresh basil until all the ingredients have been used.
• Pour over the cheese custard & decorate with the freshly sliced tomatoes. Bake in the oven for 35 - 45 minutes until golden brown & bubbling. Allow to cool & serve in slices. Delicious with fresh green salad leaves & crusty bread.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and grease an ovenproof 9-by-12-inch casserole.
• Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Steam them for 5 minutes, or microwave them in a bowl for 5 to 8 minutes, depending on the size, until the interior is soft. When the eggplants are cool enough to handle, scoop out the pulp with a spoon into a colander, pressing out and discarding the water. Be careful to keep the shells intact.
• Chop the eggplant pulp, transfer it to a large bowl, and mix in all but 1/4 cup of the cheese. Taste, seasoning with salt and pepper. Spoon the eggplant-and-cheese mixture into the shells, cover each with a thin slice of tomato, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, and drizzle with olive oil.
• Place in the prepared casserole, and bake for 30 minutes. If the tops of the eggplants are not golden brown, put them under the broiler for a few minutes. Serve hot, accompanied by a big salad.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a skillet or frying pan. Add the onion, season with salt and saute on a medium heat until they turn translucent and golden.
• Whilst the onion is cooking prep the aubergine. Place the sliced aubergine into a colander and season with salt, leave to drain.
• Add the crushed garlic and mixed herbs to the cooking onions. If you don't have mixed herbs specifically, simply use any favourite herby flavours that you have in; thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil and marjoram will all work well. A chuck it in approach will always work with sauce like this as long as you limit the herbs to 1tsp- any more will give it a noticeable grainy texture.
• Add mushrooms and courgette, cook for 5 minutes or until they are slightly browned.
• Add the chopped tomatoes with a splash of water. Mix in and simmer over a medium heat until you have your desired consistency. 5 minutes of simmering was enough for me.
• Whilst these are cooking, take the aubergine slices, rinse with water, press moisture out with kitchen roll and add to a hot frying pan which has been lightly brushed with oil. Light spray oil (diet types) work well for this also, use too much oil and the aubergine will go soggy. The point here is to get the aubergine dried out and to bring out some of the flavour, so that once they go into the gratin they won't instantly turn to mush (the only part of this dish that can go so wrong it ruins it). Brown on both sides and set aside.
• Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Add the sugar and Tabasco now if you're using it.
• You're ready to layer up the gratin! intermittently layer aubergine with a thin covering of sauce- I sprinkle a tiny bit of Parmesan shavings between layers. The dish fills up pretty quickly, I normally manage to squeeze in 3 layers of aubergine. When you get to the top layer of sauce, cover it with a layer of courgette circles and sprinkle with lots of Parmesan, keeping a tiny sprinkle aside for when it comes out of the oven. The dryness of the courgette gives the Parmesan the chance to crisp up, if you want the cheesy bit gooey then skip out the courgette.
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes on around 180 C/ Gas mark 4. The top wants to be lightly browned.
• Serve with your sides of choice. So filling and contrary to my waffling instructions, actually very easy!