Aubergine Parmigiana

I can’t take any credit for this recipe at all, it was developed by Mark from Smoke Fine Food. Mark has a real passion for everything Italian and loves to spend summers in Italy with his Mini Big Green Egg. Please take a look at his site and also give him a follow on Instagram.

As is usual with me I always mess around with a recipe so you must look at his original recipe. I have upped the quantities a little to take advantage of the Big Green Egg Small Skillet, and also cook my onions in a slightly different way, dirty on the coals, to take advantage of the Big Green Egg.

Method

To cook your onions

I like to cook the onions dirty, which means cooking them in their skins directly on the charcoal. I love the caramelised taste.

1. Setup your Egg with no cooking surfaces but with it set to 180°C.
2. Place your onions around the edge of the burning part of the charcoal, not on it but around it.
3. Every 10 or so minutes, turn your onions.
4. Cook for around 45 minutes until the onions are clearly soft inside.
5. Once cooked take them off and allow to cool before taking off the burnt skin and chopping the insides.

For the dish

1. Setup your Egg for a direct cook at about 200°C with just the stainless steel grid about the charcoal.
2. In batches, fry your aubergine in a skillet pouring over olive oil. The aubergines are going to soak up lots of oil, don’t be alarmed. Once they are golden brown on both sides, set aside and cook the next batch.
3. In a separate pan add your tinned tomatoes, garlic and Italian herbs and simmer. You’re aiming to really thicken up the tomatoes by boiling off excess liquid. This may take 20 minutes.
4. Once your sauce has thickened add in your chopped onions. 
5. Into your skillet you are going to build layers of the tomato sauce, followed by aubergine, followed by more tomato sauce until you have used half of the aubergines and about half of the sauce. 
6. Now add a layer of mozzarella, a few basil leaves and half of your parmesan. 
7. Now build again using the layers of tomato sauce and aubergines. Keep a little tomato sauce back.
8. Now top with the remaining mozzarella, some more basil and the last layer of tomato sauce. 
9. Finally, sprinkle over your remaining parmesan. 
10. Now add your ConvEGGtor to your EGG and bake your aubergine parmigiana for about 25 minutes until cooked through and the cheese on top golden.

Serve with a simply dressed green salad. This is a rich dish so small portions.