Prettaly – Pretty Italy

Being an Italy fan, I really enjoy the Italian food. This time I made an Italian eggplant, tomato and cheese casserole. It’s one of my favorites and actually not really difficult to prepare. Often I even prepare as a casserole a day before serving as it gets better every time you heat it! It’s perfect as a weekday dinner, but also great when served as a side dish to a steak or a BBQ.

See how to prepare this recipe here:

Ingredients for 2 as a dinner
2 medium aubergines/eggplants
1 can chopped tomatoes
75g pine nuts
2 packs mozzarella
Parmesan cheese (best is freshly grated)
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (air circulation).

Wash the eggplants and cut into ½ centimeter thick round slices. Lay onto a lined baking tray and drizzle with olive oil generously (don’t add salt!). Bake in the oven for approx. 20 minutes until light golden brown.

Meanwhile roast the pine nuts in a pan (no oil needed!), stirring continuously, so they don’t burn (which happens really easily). Set aside and let cool.

Heat the tomatoes in a pot, season with salt and pepper, as well as a few basil leaves. Add the pine nuts into the tomatoes.

Grate the parmesan cheese. Slice the mozzarella into thin slices.

Remove eggplants from the oven and now stack them in a casserole form, always eggplant, tomato mix, mozzarella, parmesan and repeat until all ingredients are used up and end with parmesan on top. I usually have 2-3 layers, depending on the amount I make. To make it look especially nice, you can also stack on top of each other to receive little «turrets».

Place in the oven for approx. 20-30 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and golden brown.