Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Remove the stalks and chop the tomatoes into quarters. Put a couple of tablespoonfuls of olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the tomatoes and mash down with a spatula every few minutes or so. Keep going until you have a rough sauce.

Drop the heat and keep mashing with the spatula until the skins have more or less disappeared which will take a total time of around 15 minutes. Finely chop some basil and add to the sauce, season with a little salt to taste  Picture  .

Top and tail the aubergines and then cut into fairly thin slices ¼inch/½cm thick.

Pour olive oil into a frying pan so that it will almost cover the aubergine slices, and put over a high heat. When hot add the aubergine slices in batches and cook on both sides until brown. Be careful with oil this hot.

Take the pan off the heat and put the aubergine slices on kitchen paper to remove the oil  Picture  . Then cut the aubergines into halves and arrange in an ovenproof dish to cover the bottom of the pan  Picture  .

Pour the tomato sauce over the aubergines  Picture  . Cut the Mozzarella into thinnish slices, and then into pieces and distribute over the tomato sauce. Grate parmesan over the top of the whole dish. Cook in the oven at 400°F/200°C/Reg6 for twenty minutes or so and finish off under the grill if necessary.