Baked eggplants

Ingredients for 3 servings:

• 3 eggplant(s)
• 5 vine tomatoes
• 4 balls of mozzarella
• 6 stalks of thyme
• 3 cloves garlic
• 200 ml olive oil
• Salt
• pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Rest time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 55 minutes

simple, vegetarian, also great as a cold antipasti

First, clean the eggplants and cut them into a fan shape about 4-5 times from the thick side. Don’t cut all the way to the end so the eggplant doesn’t fall apart. If that’s too fiddly for you, you can also cut whole slices. Then generously salt the insides of the eggplants and let them rest in a sieve for about 45 minutes. Once the salt has drawn out the bitterness from the eggplants, pat the insides dry with a paper towel. Place the eggplants in a wide baking dish or, alternatively, in an aluminum tray or deep baking sheet (caution: depending on the type, the eggplants often lose 4 cm of water at the end). Thinly slice the mozzarella, tomatoes, and garlic cloves and fill the fanned out slots. I usually add two slices of tomato and two thin slices of mozzarella to each slot. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme. Finally, spread plenty of olive oil over the slots and the entire dish. Cook at 180°C (350°F) with top and bottom heat for about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven halfway through and baste with the juices from the bottom of the eggplants to keep them nice and moist. Fresh ciabatta bread, which you can later dip into the sauce, makes a great side dish. Rice, too, is also good.