A kitchen mandoline is needed for this recipe! Unless you have the uncanny ability to slice things perfectly thin and uniform o_o
Ingredients
- An onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- A bell pepper (choice of color)
- A large carrot
- An eggplant
- 2 zucchini
- 5 plum tomatoes
- 14 oz can crushed tomato
- 2 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp parsley
- Parmesan (for grating on top)
- French bread for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°
- Slice the eggplant, zucchini, and plum tomatos using a mandoline.
- Finely dice the onion and bell pepper, and mince the carrot and garlic.
- Cook the onion, pepper, carrot, and garlic on medium heat until very soft.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, and parsley to the pan and mix it all together.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer, lower the heat, and cook for 15 minutes.
- Once finished, pour the mixture into a 9x16 baking dish.
- Layer the mandolin sliced vegetables sideways, in a varying pattern going back and forth over the sauce, then brush them with olive oil.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, take out the dish and shred some fresh parmesan on top.
- Bake for 10 more minutes, uncovered.
Additional Notes
- I always end up with a ton of eggplant, a fair amount of zucchini, and less tomato slices than anything else. So when I layer it, I try to go in a pattern that accounts for this, so that there's a similar share in each slice. That often looks something like eggplant, zuchinni, eggplant, tomato, eggplant, zucchini or something akin to that.
- The layering isn't an exact science, though. I often have to go back and adjust it, squeezing more slices into each row, or making one row less dense to match the others... So don't be too particular about it, and don't worry about keeping the pattern perfect. It's just a guideline to make each serving have a similar ratio of veggies.
- Slice the french bread fresh as you serve, and maybe spread some butter on them. This dish absolutely needs some bread on the side, if you ask me, so don't forget it!!