Roasted aubergine layered with tomato sauce and mozzarella and baked until the top blisters. No flour, no breadcrumbs, naturally gluten free.
Prep
25 mins
Cook
1h 15m
Servings
6
Per serving
£1.77
Difficulty
medium
Some versions of parmigiana flour and fry the aubergine, which makes it heavy and, more to the point, not gluten free. Roasting the slices instead concentrates them and keeps the finished dish light enough that you can eat a proper portion of it.
Heat the oven to 200C fan. Lay the aubergine slices on three baking trays, brush both sides with 5 tbsp of the oil and season with 1 tsp of the salt.
Roast for 25-30 minutes, turning once, until soft, browned and shrunken. They should be properly cooked - undercooked aubergine in a parmigiana is squeaky and unpleasant.
Meanwhile heat the remaining oil in a pan and cook the garlic gently for a minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar, chilli flakes, the rest of the salt and the pepper.
Simmer for 25 minutes until thick, stirring occasionally, then tear in half the basil.
The sauce needs to be thick enough to sit on a spoon. Any looser and the finished bake will be watery.
Turn the oven down to 180C fan. Spread a little sauce in a deep dish, then build layers: aubergine, sauce, mozzarella, hard cheese, torn basil. Repeat until everything is used, finishing with sauce and a heavy scatter of hard cheese.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until bubbling and browned in patches on top.
Rest for 20 minutes before serving. Parmigiana straight from the oven falls apart; parmigiana that has sat cuts into neat squares.