dish 13) poor man's eggplant parmigiana

I bet, like me, you are wondering what the name "eggplant" is all about...? Well the good old Internet helped me out on this one, as it's one of those things you always very mildly wonder about, but never research. WELL it turns out that the Eggplant is native to India and slowly spread across the world. By the time it reached places like Australia, NZ, Canada, and USA the common varieties were white and looked like goose eggs... hence the English name Eggplant. Most of the rest of the world calls them Aubergines.

Eggplants/Aubergines are slowly making their way into my diet. The trick is to cook them in certain ways otherwise they are repulsive. Don't do what my housemate Maki did and pick a raw bit off the chopping board and pop it in your mouth... you will not like it. It is bitter and spongey. BUT cook them properly and you will fall in love! One such dish which is now added to my favourites list is Eggplant Parmigiana! Did you know that eggplant parmigiana was the original dish and chicken/veal parmigiana developed in other countries where Italian Immigrants were living? Amazing.

My earliest knowledge of Eggplant Parmigiana was in my first year of Uni in 2005 when my Italian friend Mark enlightened the socks off me. Every day his dad would make him 2 Ciabatta rolls with delicious fillings like roasted vegetables and fetta cheese, and sometimes... Eggplant Parmigiana. I was only working part time then, and money was a bit of an issue. That, coupled with my inherent ability to forget to make lunch almost every day, left me drooling over his Ciabatta rolls more often than not. It drove me crazy. Well, sometimes he let me have a bite of the Italian goodness (that sounds bad) or lent me some money to get a Foccacia or something. He was a mad friend :) But seriously I envied his big Italian family, I thought my family needed more culture... especially in the way of food. But living in this big multicultural place called Australia, I think it's fair to say we can adopt any food culture as our own. So I am taking this dish under my wing, and I'm dedicating this one to Mark :)

Actually in true Uni spirit, I have no money this week, I didn't factor my impromptu IKEA trip into my budget so I'm eating very cheaply until pay day :) I somehow crawled out of my Grand Final #2 hangover cave on Sunday night and made a nice Vego Bolognaise, but then added lamb mince to some for me and Josh to cure us. With the leftover vego pasta sauce I thought it would be perfect in this dish which I have been meaning to make for years. I call it a poor man's eggplant parmigiana because i used leftover sauce, and used half quantities of tasty cheese/parmesan as i was running out and didn't REALLY follow a recipe. Here's what I did:

I finally made use of the Grill which Josh bought me for my Birthday back in June. Poor Josh thought I was never going to use it!

Cut up the eggplants into 1/2 inch thick slices and put them on the grill. If they aren't grilling add a little olive oil.

They go all gooey and creamy on the inside with a nice charred flavour on the outside!

Layer it like a lasagna in this order: sauce, cheese, eggplant, sauce, cheese, eggplant etc. and finish with sauce, cheese and breadcrumbs. Put it in the oven until it browns on the top and the sauce is bubbling :D

oh yum :D