Aubergine Parmigiana

Aubergine Parmigiana is simply a sort of Lasagna made with aubergine slices instead of pasta sheets.

It's easy and, when made at home, very very enjoyable.

I made one last night for dinner. The oven was already hot because I was baking focaccia, so it took less than 30 minutes to cook.

I have reduced the amount of time it takes to prepare it by not grilling nor frying the aubergines. No fried aubergines also means less calories and virtually no fat.

So, for the Ingredients:

2 good sized Aubergines, sliced
1/2 a kilo of Mince Meat
2/3 of a litre of Passata
1/2 a litre of Besciamella Sauce
2 Mozzarella balls
Olive Oil
1 clove of Garlic
Salt to taste

First thing first, place the garlic clove in a pot with some olive oil and let the oil take the flavour. Remove the clove and add the mince meat, along with just a tiny bit of water and let it cook.
At this stage, I usually salt the meat.
Once is browned, pour over the meat your passata and let boil on low heat for about 10 minutes. Here it is, your sauce.

Second, prepare the besciamella sauce.
Place some olive oil in a small pot, add a few spoons of flour and then pour over about 1/2 a litre of milk. I usually use a whisk for the besciamella, so no lumps of flour remain in the sauce.

Now that everything is ready, place a ladle of mince meat sauce at the bottom of your oven tray and start placing the aubergine slices:

After each layer of aubergines, place some besciamella sauce and continue alternating mince meat sauce, aubergine slices and besciamella sauce.

On the very top, before baking in the oven, grate or slice a

couple of mozzarella balls.

Keep the tray in the oven for about 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius and, voila'!

Here it is! At the back, another Moussaka I made on the side.