Recipe: Stuffed Aubergine Schnitzels

Serves 4

Ingredients:

-3 aubergines

-1 tomato, sliced

-Slices of cheese (e.g. mozzarella/ taleggio/ emmental/ cheddar...)

-20 leaves of fresh basil
-50g pine nuts

-50g parmesan, roughly chopped

-Squeeze of lemon juice

-2 eggs, beaten

-100g breadcrumbs

-Olive oil

-Oil for shallow frying

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Cut the aubergines into 0.5cm slices, place in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave for 1hour. Rinse.

2. Arrange the aubergine slices on a baking tray and brush with olive oil on both sides, season. Bake for 30 minutes or until soft, turning them once.

3. Meanwhile make the pesto by blending the basil, pine nuts, and parmesan in the food processor with a squeeze of lemon, seasoning, and a good amount of olive oil.

4. When the aubergine slices are cool enough to handle, take the four largest slices and spread with some of the pesto. Top each with a slice of cheese and tomato, and spread with more pesto. Then sandwich together with slices of aubergine. (There will be some left over which can be used in a pasta sauce, salad, etc)

5. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Coat the aubergine schnitzels in the beaten egg, then dip in the breadcrumbs, and repeat. Then gently lower them into the frying pan and fry gently for 3-4 minutes on each side (do not crowd the pan, two at a time is good). This can be quite fiddly.

6. When golden and crispy on each side, remove from the pan and pat dry with kitchen paper. Serve with a green salad and some extra pesto.