Cheese Baked Eggplant

Eggplant - or brinjal as how the Brits call it & aubergine by the Europeans. While some people (Marsya, for instance ) hate it, I love eggplant so very much. It's one of those vegetables that's so versatile, and really hearty.You can do a lot of things with eggplant - fry it on it's own or with sambal, grill it (& eat it with sambal belacan) or just add it in curries for varieties.

When I was in Italy few years ago, my choices of food are limited to seafood & vegetables only. One thing I noticed is that, Italians just love to eat. For dinners, while others have 4-course meals (appetizer, main course, dessert & coffee) as a norm, theirs are 5 (antipasto, primo, secondo, contorno & dolce). Reason being, there are 2 main course which is the primary (pasta or rice) & secondary dish (chicken, meat or fish). Imagine having a steak after finishing your pasta - crazy isnt it? Well, that's how Italian reward themselves after a long day at work.

Among these 5 courses, antipasto is my favourite. I love Italian appetizers (which reminds me of Ciao Restaurant for their delicious antipasto). The choices they have for appetizers (which mostly consists of vegetables) are simply enormous. It was then that I learned the versatility of an eggplant. It was also then that I've tried my very first Baked Eggplant & it was love at a first taste !

Been googling the recipe for Baked Eggplant ever since but didnt really have the nerve to try it out for it might not turn out as how I expect it................not until yesterday. Where possible, every Friday I would meet up with a few of my friends of the Celibacy Club where we eat & talk as if we've never seen each other for ages. Yesterday I decided to invite them to my place & treat them home-cooked dinner.

Since one of them is on a diet where he's currently cutting off rice from his food regime, I've decided to cook them Italian dishes - Baked Eggplant for the antipasto, Spaghetti Marinara for the main course & Custard Caramel for the dessert. 

My Eggplant was a great success & I was the happiest person that night. The taste was superb - very the Italiano, I would say....hehehe. Over the years, I've collected a few Baked Eggplant's recipes & what I did yesterday was to mix & match these recipes and wallahhhh.....my very own Cheese Baked Eggplant.

Ingredients

2 medium sized eggplants

1 red capsicum, diced

5 ripe tomatoes, chopped

5 garlics, chopped

1 cup fresh sliced button mushrooms

1/2 can of Prego's Tomato & Basil spaghetti sauce

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp Italian herbs

Parsleys, cut into 3 cm long

Maozarella shredded cheese

Olive oil

Salt & sugar to taste

How To

1.  Preheat the oven to 200 Deg. C

2.  Slice the eggplants into 1 cm rounds & brush both sides with olive oil & bake for 10 mins.

3.  Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. 

4.  Add in the onion & fry till fragrant. Add in the tomatoes.

5.  Cook and stir for a few minutes until the tomatoes have released their juices.

6.  Add the spaghetti sauce along with the rest of the ingredients.

7.  Pour the spaghetti sauce over the baked eggplants.

8.  Spread the cheese on top into a thin layer & bake for 30 in the preheated oven.

9.  If you want to make it spicy, add some black pepper into the sauce.