Aubergine parmigiana

You will need 1kg of aubergines (around 6 aubergines medium size), 10g of fine salt and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil

Cut the aubergines lengthways into 6mm thick slices.

Take a colander and place the first layer of aubergines sprinkling a little bit of salt, add another layer and sprinkle some salt and continue till you use all the aubergines.

Put the colander in the sink and place on top of it a pan full of water and leave it for at least 3 hours or even overnight if you can (this way the aubergines will lose their bitterness). Wash and dry the aubergines.

Brush the aubergines both sides with extra virgin olive oil, place them on a large tray and bake in the oven at 180 C till they soften (about 15 mins).

Alternatively, you could fry them instead of baking in the oven. In this case, you will need a frying pan and enough vegetable oil for shallow frying.

Put about 1-2 cm of vegetable oil in the pan, set over medium heat and when the oil is very hot fry the aubergines until they are reddish-gold on both sides.

You will need 400g of plum tomatoes or chopped tomatoes in tin, 4g of salt and 3 basil leaves

In a small saucepan add a small tin of tomatoes sauce that you have pre-squashed with hands with 4gm of salt.

Cook gently for 15 min and when it’s ready, add the basil leaves.

Let it cool down and place it in a container.

You will need the aubergines and the tomato sauce you have already prepared, 250g of mozzarella and 100g of parmesan cheese

Put a few spoons of tomato sauce at the bottom of a medium-size ovenproof dish. Cover with a layer of sliced aubergines and add a bit of mozzarella then repeat this step ending with a thin layer of tomato sauce (you should roughly have three layers).

Sprinkle on top the parmesan cheese and bake in the oven at 180 C for 30/40 mins.