Eggplant and Tomato Gratin

Mediterranean in May

I am always looking for new recipes that use Eggplant and hence I think I gravitated to recipes with Eggplant in the cookbook Vegetarian Times Cooks Mediterranean. This is an easy  recipe that can serve as a side or main dish.

Ingredients:

1 Japanese eggplant, thinly sliced
2 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced (or I used sliced Jack cheese)
1 garlic clove
a few basil leaves
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper

Preheat the broiler.

Lay out eggplant slices on a baking sheet. Whisk together olive oil, garlic, vinegar and salt and pepper. Brush eggplant slices on both sides with the oil and vinegar mixture. Broil for 6 minutes on each side.

Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F.

Transfer the sliced eggplant to a baking pan.  Lay tomato slices, alternating cheese slices on top of eggplant slices. Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

Garnish with fresh basil and serve warm.

I made a panini sandwich for lunch with left overs, the next day with olive bread, spinach and a sundried tomato and pepper sandwich spread, and that was yummy too!