Bethany's Vegan Kitchen

Tender slices of aubergine, in a smokey rich tomato sauce, topped with melted cheese. Eating this with slices of fresh crusty bread is essential, how else would you eat the sauce? With a spoon? That’s wretched. Use bread instead.

Yield; Two to three servings Cook time; 45 minutes

You’ll need;

1. Two large aubergines, cut into long 5mm thick slices
2. Two cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
3. Half a red onion, sliced
4. One 400g/14oz tin of chopped tomatoes
5. Half a teaspoon of dried basil
6. Half a teaspoon of oregano
7. One teaspoon of smoked paprika
8. 100g/3.5oz grated vegan cheese (I used Tesco Free From smoked)
9. 65g/2oz vegan cream cheese (I used Tesco Free From cream cheese)

Method;

• Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
• Heat a teaspoon of oil in a griddle pan over a medium high heat. Add the aubergine slices, you’ll probably need to cook them in batches. Cook them for ten minutes, turning halfway through.
• By the time they’re finished they should look something like this; 
• Next, work on the sauce (or make the sauce while the aubergine is cooking to save time). Add a teaspoon of oil into a small sauce pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for one minute before adding the onion.
• Once the onion has softened, after about five minutes or so, add the tomatoes, herbs, paprika and season with salt and pepper. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
• In an oven proof dish, spoon a little of the sauce to coat the bottom. Layer aubergine slices on the sauce, top with sauce and repeat. Save a spoonful of sauce to top the final aubergine layer.
• In a dish combine the grated cheese and the cream cheese, mix until well combined. Spoon the cheese mixture on top of the dish and cover in foil.
• Bake for fifteen minutes, remove the foil then bake for a further fifteen minutes.
• Once cooked, leave to stand for five minutes before serving.

Grilling the aubergine before baking will ensure it won’t be undercooked. Leaving you with tender, tasty aubergine rather than spongy, bitter undercooked aubergine.

Bye for now 🙂