» Health & Wellbeing

Aubergine INVOITINI

seasonal Recipes from our resident Foodie Laura Coate

GThis is a dish that will see you through the summer. It’s rustic, unrefined and should be eaten – for preference – outdoors on a warm evening, with friends, good bread and wine...

It’s particularly useful if you’re a tomato grower, when, towards the end of summer, cherry tomatoes are ripening faster than they can be gobbled up. Serves Four, with Accompaniments 2 medium to large aubergines Salt Olive oil 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 450g small, very ripe tomatoes Ground pepper 1 x Buffalo mozzarella, drained and coarsely grated or chopped into small pieces Basil or oregano 2-3 tbsp Parmesan Butter

Slice the aubergines lengthwise into 4mm slices. Place these in layers in a colander, which you have a suspended over a bowl, sprinkling salt over the layers as you go. Leave these for around 30 minutes to draw out moisture.

Pat the aubergine slices dry with paper towel.

Heat enough olive oil in a pan to come 1cm to 2cm up the sides and warm over a medium–high heat. Place the aubergines in the pan so that they don’t overcrowd and fry until golden brown on each side. Remove the slices to a tray lined with paper towel to absorb excess oil. Leave these to cool while you make a quick tomato sauce.

Roughly chop the tomatoes. Warm your aubergine pan again and, if necessary, add more olive oil to just cover the base. Add the chopped garlic and cook over a gentle heat for 15 seconds, or until you can just smell the garlic beginning to cook, then throw in your tomatoes. Season well with salt and pepper, turn up the heat and place a lid on the pan. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the skins of the tomatoes have softened and they are beginning to collapse, with lots of bubbling juice. Remove the lid and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes or so, until the liquid has reduced and the sauce is thickened and sweet. Set the pan aside. (All of the above can be made in advance, but when you’re ready to bake your dish, preheat the oven to 200°C.)

To assemble, you will need a baking dish, roughly 18 x 18cm. Take a slice of aubergine and place a small spoonful or piece of mozzarella at one end. Add a sprinkle of chopped basil or oregano and carefully roll the slice into a small log. Place this in your dish.

Continue in this fashion until you’ve used all of your aubergine and the rolls are snuggly packed in the dish. Spoon over the tomatoes so that they more or less cover the aubergine rolls, then sprinkle all over with Parmesan and dot with small pieces of butter.

Bake for 35 minutes, until bubbling and lightly browned in places.

Leave the dish to cool to almost room temperature and then serve. Bread is excellent for mopping, here.

Follow Laura for updates and recipes: Instagram @foodwithfolk

Spoon over the tomatoes so that they more or less cover the aubergine rolls, then sprinkle all over with Parmesan and dot with small pieces of butter.