Serves: 4

Preparation:  30 minutes

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Category: Vegetarian / /Vegan

Plan:  Eat freshly prepared, refrigerate left overs

Difficulty:  Medium

Course: Lunch / Supper

Cuisine: English / Mediterranean

Baked Aubergines, Tomatoes with Crispy Crust Topping,

Mozzarella and Orzo

This is inspired by a Guest Recipe courtesy of Nigel Slater and published in The Guardian November 2023 and I have made some alterations to suit our preference as I cooked this as a Vegetarian dish for lunch today.

It is essential to use home grown, if available, or large tomatoes on the vine to get the best possible taste.

We are extremely keen on roasted aubergine so that had to be included together with roasted red onions.

This dish is so easy to make and the magic is the crispy, crunchy, herby topping, which simply transforms this dish

and if you prefer the Vegan option, either leave out the Mozzarella cheese or use a Vegan cheese of your preference.

If you include the garlic in the topping, you can either peel and chop finely the garlic cloves (about six) and add them straight to the topping ingredients in the pan, otherwise for a more sweeter, caramelised flavour, you can

roast a whole head together with the vegetables and add the purée to the topping mixture during the final stirring

before serving.

The roasted vegetables are quite delicious and with the fragrant crispy, crunchy topping,

this dish is elevated to something else and the coolness of the Mozzarella compliments this dish to perfection.

You can serve with rice, couscous and I had some Orzo, which had been cooked with

white wine, cream and sun-dried tomatoes with Italian herbs -

perfect Mediterranean flavours

Utensils

• Chopping board
• Sharp knife
• Bowl for discarded peelings
• Garlic crush
• 2 roasting pans
• Bowl for the herbs
• Bowl for crushed garlic
• Food processor for bread crumbs
• Hand grater for the lemon zest
• Large frying pan for the topping
• Large flat wooden spatula
• Scissors (to cut herbs and snip dried tomatoes)
• Sauté pan with lid to cook Orzo

Ingredients

For the Vegetables

• 4 good sized aubergines, trimmed and each halved and sliced into three lengthways
• 4 large tomatoes, preferably on the vine and cut in half
• 4 red onions, peeled and cut in half
• One head of garlic
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
  

For the Topping

• 2 cups of bread crumbs
• Good handful of fresh parsley, chopped finely
• Good handful of fresh chives, chopped finely (I used garlic chives)
• Zest of one lemon
• 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced (if not using the whole roasted garlic cooked with the vegetables)
• Olive Oil (and Butter optional, but tastes even better!)
• Seasoning
• 4 balls of Mozzarella or Buratta

For the Orzo

• 250g Orzo, cooked according to instructions
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 cup of white wine
  
• Half a jar of sun dried tomatoes, snipped into small pieces with scissors / or you could have the zest of one lemon with some of the lemon juice, instead of the sun-dried tomatoes.
• Half a cup of cream (we used Vegan cream)
• One teaspoon of dried Italian herbs
• Sea Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C or 180C Fan.
   
   
2. Lay out your utensils.
   
   
3. Lay out your ingredients.
   
   
4. Prepare the aubergines, onion and garlic and place these into the roasting pans.
   
   
5. Drizzle with plenty of olive oil, and then add salt and pepper.
   
   
6. Place into the oven for about 25 minutes and then remove and add the tomatoes, (season these and drizzle with the olive oil) and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes or so.   The tomatoes need to soften and perhaps have a hint of golden hues, but not charred.
   
   
7. When the vegetables are softened with a good colour, remove from the oven and set aside.
   
   
8. Remove the garlic head and using gloves (messy otherwise!) squeeze the softened garlic into a small bowl.   I find it easiest to use a table knife to scrape the softened kernels away from the skins.    Alternatively, you can choose not to roast the garlic, but simply peel and finely chop or mince the fresh garlic and add to the topping mixture in the pan.  Both ways of doing this are excellent.
   
   
9. For the Orzo (or you could just prepare rice or couscous instead) - put a little oil into a sauté pan and then add the Orzo and stir until well covered with the oil.
   
   
10. Now add the stock and wine, stirring thoroughly and then add the sun-dried tomatoes (or if you go for the lemon option, leave out the tomatoes and add the zest of a lemon.
    
    
11. Leave to simmer for about 12-14 minutes, checking that the Orzo is cooked.   Also add a little extra liquid during the cooking to make sure the Orzo has a nice consistency.
    
    
12. Now adjust with the seasoning and add a little of the lemon juice until it feels right. (For the lemon option)
    
    
13. As soon as it is done, add the cream, mix well and set aside.
    
    
14. To prepare the topping, start by finely chopping the chives and parsley and set aside.
    
    
15. Now grate the zest from one lemon and add to the herbs.
    
    
16. Add 3-4 tablespoons olive oil and a generous wedge of butter to a large frying pan and allow to melt, stir well to mix.
    
    
17. Add two cups of breadcrumbs and stir well, then leave for a few minutes to form a golden crust on the base of the pan.   You might need to check very carefully when you decide it has done this.
    
    
18. Using a flat spatula, now carefully slide under the mixture and turn over the whole lot, section by section so the golden crust is on top, pat into a neat round and allow the uncooked breadcrumbs to now bake the next layer of golden crust.
    
    
19. As soon as this is achieved, add all the herbs, lemon zest, garlic and seasoning and mix well.
    
    
20. You may need to add some more oil and/or butter - to get that wonderful deep buttery, herb and garlic taste.
    
    
21. As soon as the topping is mixed well, cook for a couple of minutes to allow all the flavours to mingle and then turn off the heat and allow to cool for a short while.
    
    
22. To assemble this dish, carefully transfer the vegetables to a serving platter, cover with the topping and serve each plate with the Mozzarella on a bed of either rice, couscous or Orzo.