Not Another Food Blog

Pork & eggplant stack

This is my version of a Parmigina dish. There are few simple processes involved but once on the plate it looks like something from a professional chef’s kitchen. Your dinner party will be impressed. For a vegeterian version just omit the pork.

Ingredients
Serves 3
1 large purple eggplant, sliced into 1cm disks
6 Roma tomatoes, halved vertically
1 large Spanish onion, peeled and quartered vertically
1 medium-large pork loin, sliced diagonally into 6 pieces
Mozzarella cheese, sliced or grated, about 200gm
5 tsp whole egg mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, grated or smashed
1 tablespoon good Balsamic vinegar
olive oil
cracked black pepper
1 tsp sweet paprika
sea salt
1 tsp sugar
vegetable oil for frying

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.
2. In a bowl, coat tomatoes and onion with a mix of Balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, sugar, good pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Lay tomatoes and onion quarters on an oven tray covered in foil or sprayed with oil. Roast in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until tomatoes are collapsed and starting to crisp up. Keep an eye on the onion, it can get burnt easily.
4. Once those are in the oven, slice the eggplant and soak it in slightly salted warm water for a few minutes. Pat dry and place a layer of eggplant in a pre-heated pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil, it should be quite hot. Turn the heat down after a minute to medium. Add more oil if eggplant is asking, it’s a thirsty fruit. When crispy and golden-brown on once side, turn over and fry on the other side for a couple more minutes on medium heat.
5. While the eggplant is frying you can rub the slices of pork loin with some olive oil, paprika, pepper and sea salt. Set aside.
6. Lift the eggplant out of the frying pan draining any access oil. Place disks on an another oven tray.
7. In a small bowl mix mayo with garlic into an aioli and spread a thin layer on each eggplant slice. Place a few slices of Mozzarella cheese over the top.
8. By this stage our tomatoes and onions should be ready, if not leave them in for a bit longer.
9. Heat up some vegetable oil in a frying pan to cook the pork slices. Fry on each side for 2-3 minutes and rest.
10. At about the same time place the tray with the eggplant under a hot grill until the cheese is melted and browned on the top.
11. To serve place one eggplant slice on the plate followed by one slice of roasted tomato, another slice of eggplant and another tomato. Top it with a third slice of eggplant and two slices of pork loin. Serve with a roasted onion quarter and another tomato on the side. Add some fresh Italian crusty bread to the table and enjoy!