Provençal Tomaotes and Aubergines are a delicious vegetarian dish which is often cooked in Provence where aubergines (eggplant) and tomatoes are full of flavour. This recipe is often made with mince (pork/chicken etc.) but this recipe is fully vegetarian and is very easy to cook …
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 1 red onion finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves crushed
- 4 medium tomatoes
- 4 baby eggplants (or 1 large 1 cut lengthwise into quarters)
- 1 courgette grated
- juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1,400g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- mixed provencal herbs (eg. fresh basil, parsley and oregano)
- salt and pepper
To serve: mixed salad with a vinaigrette and goats curd
Method
- Heat the oven to 160 degrees
- Put the onion and garlic in a frying pan and cook until soft.
- Scoop out the flesh of the aubergine, reserving the hollowed out aubergines for later and dice the flesh, then add this to the frying pan of other ingredients and gently cook further until onion and aubergine are soft.
- Slice the top of the tomatoes off and reserve the tops then holow out the centre of each tomato, cutting out the core and discarding. Put the pulp in a mixing bowl.
- Add the grated courgette, cannellini beans, lemon juice an zest and herbs to the tomatoes. Mash lightly to squash the beans a little.
- Add the frying pan mixture to the ingredients in the mixing bowl. Mix everything together lightly, then add the breadrumbs. Season with salt and pepper and give it a final mix.
- Fill the hollowed out tomatoes and aubergines with the mixture, doming it sightly at the top. Replace the tomato tops and then place on a baking tray in the oven. Cook for about 20-30 minutes until golden brown and the top is crispy.
- Make a mixed salad of your choice to accompany it and you might like to add some gruyere or emmental to melt on the top just before it come out the oven or put a dollop of goats curd when serving.
- If you don’t eat meat or dairy then this is dish is pefect as it is accompanied by its salad.
Please note that you are likely to have left over mixture – add some brown rice or some cooked couscous and make into veggie burgers the next day!
