Aubergine, Cheese and Bacon Bake.
Saturday, August 14th, 2010
Food gloriously food – especially cheese and bacon!
I couldn’t decide what to make for our lunch today, so I rummaged in the fridge and found an aubergine, tomato sauce, cheese and some bacon.
So I made an aubergine, cheese and bacon bake!
It was seriously delicious, but then anything that has lots of cheese and bacon in it always is!
If you want a tasty lunch, here are the instructions for my light, but no doubt very fattening, concoction.
Ingredients ~
1 large aubergine (you may need more, we don’t eat large portions)
Mozzarella balls, drained and sliced ~ as many of few as you fancy!
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese ~ lots of it!
Bacon. I used cured jambon. Use whatever meat you like.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Plain flour ~ enough to coat your aubergine slices
1 egg, beaten and seasoned
Fresh basil leaves ~ according to your taste
The tomato sauce ~
I used a little sauce that I’d made recently, so just make a tomato sauce as you usually would!
My sauce consisted of ~
Onion, finely chopped ~ you decide the quantity!
Tomatoes ~ your preference; passata, tinned, fresh, etc. I prefer passata.
Garlic ~ lots, well we do live in France!
Chilli ~ choose your favourite variety, or use cayenne pepper etc. Use lots, the spicier the better. I used scotch bonnet – yum!
Method ~
1 ~ Sauté the onions until slightly soft, add the garlic and chilli, keep on low heat until gorgeously soft sweet and brown. Try not to eat the entire contents on the pan, it won’t be easy as by now the whole house will smell of the wonderful aroma of fried onions – Mmm 
Add the passata, tomatoes or whatever you decided to use.
Stir, stir, stir!
Add salt if you use it – I never do.
Cook for as long as possible.
I usually simmer my tomato sauces from anywhere between 5 to 8 hours to really get a good condensed sauce that’s full of flavour.
2 ~ As your tomato sauce simmers, you can start slicing the aubergines lengthways, about 1?2cm thick.
3 ~ Heat the olive oil in a frying pan.
Dust the aubergine slices in flour, then dip them in to the beaten eggs.
Fry the slices of aubergine until they are golden on both sides, and look good enough to eat – but do not eat them yet!
If you are making this for a lot of people, or you have a healthy appetite, you may need to fry the aubergine in batches or use more than one frying pan.
Once the aubergine slices are golden on both sides, remove from the pan and place on kitchen paper to drain off any excess oil.
4 ~ I used cured bacon, which although edible straight from the fridge, I sautéed in a dry pan.
5 ~ Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
6 ~ Now it’s time to assemble the dish – stop salivating!
Place a layer of aubergines in the base of an ovenproof dish.
I used just 2 slices and built them up in layers with the other ingredients directly on top, but it’s probably better to cover the entire base of your dish and when it’s ready to serve use a sharp knife to cut it in to portions.
7 ~ Cover the aubergine slices with some of the tomato sauce, then place some Mozzarella slices over the sauce.
Then sprinkle generously with the grated Parmesan and some of the basil leaves.
8 ~ Continue repeat the process three times.
9 ~ Finally, spread the last layer with tomato sauce and sprinkle more of the grated Parmesan.
Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue to bake for a further 30 minutes.
10 ~ Now your aubergine, cheese and bacon bake is ready to eat.
Remove from the oven, and share – it won’t be easy as you’ll want to scoff it all yourself, but be nice – share – and enjoy!
Mmmmmmmmmmm 
