Aubergine Parmigiana

Aubergine was on good offer in the supermarket and hence this! Easy and no fuss, only downside I'd say is its slightly time consuming, but beats eating the ones outside as this is definitely healthier, so no more guilt after the 2nd helping :)

All you need is some garlic cloves, 2 aubergines, 1 can of 400g chopped tomatoes in tomato sauce, 3 tomatoes (optional), 200g-300g cheese (I had some cheddar, you can use other nice melt-able cheese) , olive oil, salt and pepper

Firstly, slice the aubergine into round cross sections of about 2 inches thick. Note that I have done it length-wise as per the pictures below, but found that it made serving the dish later more difficult in terms of cutting them into portions. Then, brush some olive oil on both sides of the aubergines and season with some salt and pepper. Get your grilling pan and heat it up for some serious grilling!

Grill the aubergines both sides till almost cook and soft. It took me about 5 minutes each side. Be careful not to burn them too much!

The tomato sauce is up next, quite straight forward. I chopped some garlic and fried them till fragrant, before adding the contents of the can to the pot. Lower the heat and simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes till it thickens, finally add a pinch of salt and some basil/oregano if preferred

Then the fun part starts! Don't forget to heat up your oven to 200C for at least 15 minutes beforehand.... With the casserole dish, start with a thin layer of tomato sauce at the bottom to lightly coat it....

... then continue with the grilled aubergines, cheese, sauce, and then repeat again. I added a layer of tomatoes into mine for fun, supplementing the sauce :)

Try not to overflow the dish though! Finish up with a nice layer of cheese and place it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes and its done!

About Squids and the Road not Taken

This ain't a blog post about cooking this particular seafood (yet), but I was referring to the tentacles, and wishing I had as many pairs of arms as it has over the past year!

A couple of things have changed, I chose a path less traveled by, and fingers crossed, hope this will make all the difference (and more cooking)!

Alive

Yes, I'm alive, despite almost half a year of disappearance....
It's been hectic workwise, and I do try to squeeze in as many cooking sessions as I can, lots of back log photos in my camera still to be posted...

And yes, I finally made my own Chicken Tikka Masala from scratch :) How's everyone doing by the way?

Dang, I feel like Beef with Chinese Broccoli noodles tonight...