Georgina's Marche Inspired Eggplant Parmigiana
- 2 medium eggplant
- 5 large tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
- 1 small white onion, peeled and cut into quarters
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 Italian pure pork sausage, casing removed and sausage meat crumbled
- 1 thick slice of Mortadella, finely chopped
- 1 whole sprig of basil, approximately 6 leaves including stalk
- 1 pinch of dried chilli
- 125 g fresh Mozzarella, roughly torn
- Plenty of JOSEPH Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1. Get your tomato sugo prepared first as it needs to cook gently for 2 hours. Peel, deseed and chop your tomatoes. Spike the whole cloves into the quartered onion pieces, then, in a medium size saucepan, sauté them in 4 tablespoons of JOSEPH First Run Extra Virgin Olive Oil for 3 or 4 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, a pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper. Bring to the boil then add tomato puree, basil and chilli, reduce heat to very low and simmer 2 hours with the lid on.
3. When you have finished preparing the tomato sugo, slice the eggplants length ways (5 mm thick), liberally salt both sides and place in a colander for up to two hours.
4. At the end of the 2 hours of cooking the tomato sugo, remove the onion (with cloves) and basil. Reserve ½ cup of sugo for serving.
5. Rinse the eggplant slices well and place in a bowl with ¼ cup JOSEPH First Run Extra Virgin Olive Oil to coat.
6. Brown the sliced eggplant on a griddle or in a frying pan, in batches and place on a plate.
7. In a frying pan, heat 4 tablespoons of JOSEPH First Run Extra Virgin Olive Oil then add sausage meat and brown. Once browned add mortadella and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
8. To assemble, grease a 25cm ovenproof dish with oil then add a quarter of the tomato sugo. Layer a third of the eggplant slices, another quarter of the tomato sugo, half the sausage mixture, and half the mozzarella. Repeat. Place a final layer of eggplant and tomato sugo, then sprinkle with grated pecorino over the top.
9. Bake in a moderate over (180*) for 30 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes then serve with reserved tomato sugo and extra pecorino cheese and some extra JOSEPH olive oil for good measure! Serve with salad and some crusty bread to mop up the delicious sauce.
