Aubergine Lasagna (Parmigiana)

Aubergine Lasagna is a great way to serve aubergines. Combined with tomato sauce and cheese this dish tastes especially delicious and flavorful.

Start by preparing the aubergines, wash them and cut off the stalks. You can peel them or leave their skins on, that’s really up to you. The dish tastes as nice with the unpeeled skins, so we recommend leaving them on to save the time. Then, slice aubergines lengthwise to about 1/4 of an inch thick or thinner.

You will need to pre-cook the aubergines before arranging them into a lasagna dish. There are two ways to do it. The first one is to roast them in the oven. The second way is to fry them. The point is to get the aubergine slices nice and soft without burning them.

While your eggplant slices are roasting/frying, you’ll need to prepare the sauce. You can use store-bought marinara sauce in this recipe to speed the cooking, or you can make your own special homemade tomato sauce. To do that simply fry the onion and the garlic, then add tinned tomatoes, finely diced fresh tomatoes, and the rest of dry ingredients. Give the mixture a good stir, then put a lid on the pan and simmer slowly for 10 minutes. If you’d like to make a dish meaty, cook your ground beef or turkey, drain it, and mix it into the tomato sauce.

For the final step, take a large baking dish and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray and start layering your lasagna. Start with adding some sauce on the bottom of the dish, then the aubergines, then sauce again, the cheesy layer, and then aubergine slices again. Continue with layering your lasagna. The final top layer should finish with tomato sauce, some mozzarella, bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Bake this awesome dish for about 30 minutes.

You can serve it with all sorts of roasted meats or fish, but it is just as good to be served as a substantial dish with freshly baked bread.

This aubergine lasagne tastes as great the following day, so don’t hesitate to make more of it and leave it for tomorrow’s lunch.

1. Remove the stalks from the aubergines, wash and slice them lengthwise about 1/4 of an inch thick or thinner. You can either fry or roast them. For roasting: brush your aubergine slices with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Put them into your preheated oven and roast them until they are fork tender, about 15 minutes depending on thickness. For frying: heat up a tiny bit of olive oil on medium-high heat in a skillet, fry the aubergine slices for about 3-5 minutes on each side until soft.

2. While the aubergines are cooking, make the sauce. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Finely chop onion and garlic, fry in a saucepan for about 7-10 minutes.

3. Tip in finely chopped fresh and tinned tomatoes, breaking them with a spoon, then add oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper, finely chopped fresh basil, sugar and salt. Give the mixture a good stir, then put a lid on the pan and simmer slowly for another 10 minutes.

4. Spread a few tablespoons of the tomato sauce over the base of the baking dish, followed by a layer of aubergines. Scatter over some more sauce and mozzarella. Repeat, finishing with a little sauce and another good sprinkling of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, topping with the breadcrumbs. Sometimes the dish is served with torn-up mozzarella on top, which is nice too.

5. Heat oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5 and cook the lasagne for 25-30 mins until golden and bubbling. Sprinkle over the remaining basil, then serve with your choice of roasted meat or simply with some fresh crusty bread. It’s best eaten straight away, but it can also be served cold.