If you’re new here, WELCOME…This is first and foremost a place for recipes, but also where I can dish out expertise on the only thing I truly know about- how to feed your friends. I hope that You Bring The Wine either remains, or becomes, your ultimate tool kit.
This week’s newsletter is a much loved re-hash of a very old newsletter from way back when pretty much none of you were here. My friends constantly ask me where to find this recipe and Substack makes it about a million times easier to find my old newsletter with ease. So if it’s you who texts me on the hunt, it’s right here now.
A quick note on tomato sauce. No, I'm not talking about ketchup, I’m talking that perfectly balanced and juicy sauce that coats pastas, provides a home for meatballs and, in this case, works real hard to make this a seriously delicious parmigiana.
There are a lot of recipes out there, different horses for different courses and all that, but here are the few things I’ve learnt along my many-tomato-sauces journey…
Firstly, it’s not a rushed affair, if you try to make a tomato sauce in 5 mins (that has any use other than a thin brush over a pizza pre-cook) it’ll taste like you warmed up a can of chopped tomatoes. Take your time with it, the slow cook brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes and makes them sing.
Secondly, jarred plum tomatoes are where it’s at. I play around with chopped, cherry and plum because it’s both fun and makes for a real great sauce.
Lastly, seasoning. Outside of the necessaries- olive oil or butter (go hard on either of these for obvious reasons) onions, garlic, some kind of woody herbage, generous pinches of salt and pepper… there are also a few other bits that can give your sauce that extra oo la la…
Anchovies, don’t @ me, I see them as seasoning) so maybe just add them in with your garlic if you fancy a bit of extra salty hit.
Red wine vinegar and sugar, added right at the end of the cooking time when you need a bit more acidity or sweetness, or both.
Chillies for a little kick. Go on, you know you want to.
So there, enough tomato sauce chat. Go forth and make it ready to go for this truly delish dish.
SERVES 6
TIME:
Vibe: “Wow why did I ever make parmigiana any other way?”
The when is this weekend, its raining but aubergines are still in season. Serve it with a big green salad and let it sooth you as you look at the forecast next week to inform us all that autumn has it’s paws on us. And Why… being lazy is given bad press, here for example, this shortcut method gives you more time to relax, more time to hang out with your pals, and all in all, makes it a lot more tempting to put a little time aside to make. So yeh, be lazy sometimes, it’s great.
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic
handful rosemary/ thyme/oregano leaves (pick and choose)
2 tbsp tomato paste
250ml red wine
3 x 400g jars/tins plum tomatoes (you can swap some of these for chopped and cherry if you want to mix things up)
6-8 aubergines
pinch sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 x 250g balls mozzarella
150g parmesan
large handful breadcrumbs, I used panko
METHOD
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onions only with a big pinch of salt and fry for around 10 mins, until totally softened. Slice your garlic as finely as you can, (you can also grate it or crush it if you don't fancy slicing)
Add the garlic, plus the herb leaves and cook for a couple more mins. Add the tomato paste and cook it out in the pan for 2 mins, then pour in the red wine, bubble away for 2-3 mins, until the wine has reduced by half, then add the tomatoes, bring to the boil, then turn right down to a simmer, add the pinch of sugar, and leave to bubble away for about at the VERY LEAST an hour, stirring regularly. (If you can leave for a couple of hours, you'll thank yourself for it)
Meanwhile, heat the grill as high as possible. Grab your largest baking sheet and cover it with foil. Chop the aubergines into chunks- I do this by taking off the tops, quartering lengthways, then then slicing the long quarters a few times horizontally into 2-3cm chunks. Tip them onto the baking sheet- don't worry that it looks like so many- they'll shrink! Season generously with salt, (DON'T BE TEMPTED TO ADD OIL) then slide under the grill for cook for 30 mins, until charred in places and totally collapsed. Tip into a baking dish, a roasting tray, (or an overproof frying pan if you've halved the recipe!)
Turn the oven to 180C fan. Taste the tomato sauce, add the red wine vinegar and season to taste, adding a little more sugar and salt as it needs. Smush the tomatoes down a little to make a smoother sauce. Pour the tomato sauce over the top of the grilled aubergines chunks, no need for layering here! You might need to use a spoon to make sure the sauce gets all the way to the bottom. Drain the mozzarella balls, then tear and use to cover the aubergine and tomato sauce. Finely grate the parmesan over the top, then scatter the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake for 30 mins, then allow to sit for 10 mins before serving.
Let's learn how to char aubergines. It's easy to not get this quite right. You've got a couple of choices to make and a few rules to follow.
CHOICES…
1. CHOP CHOP CHOP.
You can slice it in half vertically, ready to lie flat in the pan as it is, or you could crosshatch the flesh at this point. This is ideal if you want to serve up the aubergine as the big fat star of the show, blackened, meltingly tender and drizzled in some sort of creamy dressing.
You could slice, vertically or horizontally, into half cm slices, perfect for making a traditional parmigiana, perfect if you have a combo of time and space (aka a bbq or giant griddle pan).
You can cut it into wedges, to keep whole or to chop further to make lil aubergine chunks. love this for the aesthetic and the surface area. to get nice charring to soft flesh ratio.
Put the knife away and keep it whole. Best if you have an open flame and intend to make babaganoush or serve up a big plate of smokey pulled aubergine. You can do it under a grill but I find this method always lets me down on the flavour front with this method. Make sure you prink with a fork to avoid any explosions. With this method, once it's burnt and blacked, stick the aubergine in a bowl, cover with a lid and let is steam so the skin is easy peasy to peel away- leaving you with perfect smokey flesh.
2. TOOLS…
You can either use a frying pan, a griddle pan, a bbq, an open flame (for the whole aubergine sitchu). You can also slide the aubergine halves/ slices/ wedges under the hot hot grill.
RULES…
1. SALTY SALT SALT.
Salt the aubergines, a nice big pinch, and if you have time, set them aside for 30 mins or so this draws the water out, leading to a tastier and less oil-absorbing. Drain it, and then carry on. Some people wash off the salt but I love salt so have never bothered with that little step.
2. HOT HOT HOT.
Don't mess about with medium heat here, you need the pan to real hot, the grill to be to max or the bbq to hitting its peak, we're looking for real time char, and that means cranking up the heat.
3. DRY CHAR.
This is really important and a great lesson to learn, add the olive oil after the aubergine is charred. I'm talking when the aubergine real blackened and collapsing, this method ensures that the aubergine doesn't just endlessly soak up the oil you add and you up with a kind of spongy oil logged result. If you're adding spices, garlic etc etc- do this now as well and then cook them out for a few more mins- so you have no burnt spices kicking about all over your aubergine. If you're in the market for a dressing, make your dressing up in a big bowl, then just tip the charred aubergine straight into it.
Next week I’m praying that the sun will be out again and I can show you how to make a delicious snack plate with taramasalata…
See you there.
Elena x