Harvest Monday Jan 23rd and a recipe

Phew! It's hot in Melbourne right now.  34C today and more of the same tomorrow.  Well, at least the eggplants like it; we picked the first couple yesterday.  Also in our (daily) harvests this week were lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, spring onions, zucchini of various varieties, corn, green capsicum and our biggest strawberry haul in one day yet  - almost half a kilo which were eaten before I got to take a picture!   

I used the eggplant to male eggplant parmigiana, but a slightly more healthy version because I baked the eggplant instead of frying and omitted the mozzarella mainly because I didn't have any.   I forgot to take a picture but I can assure you that it was really yummy and it took a lot of willpower not to eat the whole dish between two of us.

Eggplant parmigiana- serves 4

2 large eggplant, sliced into 0.5 cm thick slices
100g breadcrumbs
100g grated parmesan
1-2 beaten eggs (depending on the size)

Tomato sauce
1 onion, finely diced
1/2 kilo ripe tomatoes
handful basil
salt
2 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil


To make the sauce, fry the onions in a little olive oil until soft.  Then add the tomatoes, garlic and salt and cook on  low heat into a thick sauce. 

Oil 2 baking trays lightly with olive oil.

Mix the breadcrumbs and half the parmesan together and season with a little salt and pepper.  Dip each eggplant slice into the beaten egg and then te breadcrumb/parmesan mix. Arrange the slices on the oiled baking tray and drizzle over some more olive oil on each (just a little bit). Bake the slices for about 20 mins in a 200c oven , turning halfway until golden and crispy.

In a baking dish put a layer of eggplant, then a layer of sauce and sprinkle over some parmesan and a few torn basil leaves.  You could also add some mozzarella.  Repeat with more layers until all the eggplant is used up (I got 2 layers).  Top with some cheese and bake in a 200C over for 30 mins until the cheese is golden.