Jack & Jill Passata

Passport & Plate - Aubergine & Passata Bake

Italy | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
List of ingredients:

2 medium aubergines (eggplant)
4 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
chopped tomatoes
soft Colby cheese with garlic and herbs
3 tbsp fresh or dried breadcrumbs

Passata Sauce:

1 lb. fresh tomatoes, preferably plum tomatoes
A pinch of salt and pepper
A basil leaf or two
Olive oil
1 small onion

 

How to prepare this recipe
Cut the stalks from the aubergines, then cut each into 6 slices lengthwise. Lay them in one layer on a pan and lightly brush with oil and a little seasoning. Sauté until lightly browned, turn them over, brush with oil again, then sauté until browned and tender. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a non-stick pan, add the onion and gently fry until softened. Add the tomatoes and passata and simmer for 5 mins. When the aubergines are cool, spread half the slices with a little soft Colby cheese and cover with the remaining slices to make "sandwiches."
Spread half the passata sauce over a shallow ovenproof dish. Arrange the aubergine sandwiches, overlapping, over the top and pour over the remaining sauce. Sprinkle cheese over the crumbs and bake until golden brown.

 

The story behind this recipe
When I was growing up, I would "imagine" these elaborate stories and tell my family and friends all the miraculous things that happened to me when they "weren't looking". When I was eight I was a mermaid and my mermaid friends and I swam the Indian Ocean. By ten, I'd retired from that job and became an elf, yes Santa's elf and I lived in the North Pole. Yes, I was that child with an active imagination that told lots of stories. To me, they were real, to my parents I had a great imagination, but to my siblings I was just a big fat liar that got away with it! As an Anthropologist and writer, I'd like to think the tales now are spun based on truth and yet I'd like to think my words transport a reader to places they've never been and allow them to have new experiences that make them come alive.

This is a love story and as love stories, like recipes go, it starts with nothing, ingredients that in and of themselves have their own special qualities but together are simply magic. We connected online. I, as small town southern and American as one could be and he, African born, British bred, he was the most refined man I'd met and represented all the things I was not! On the surface, we seemingly had nothing in common. Plain Jill and Spicy Jack. We first met face to face in Zurich, spent several days there, learning each other and writing our story. Months and years together took us to Europe twice, the Caribbean, Bermuda, and the United States, Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. In each of these places, our love grew, our collection of experiences and great recipes grew. Life happened and we went our own way, living on separate continents, conducting separate lives but still connected by shared experiences. When I think of great food, I think of this passata dish. This was the first dish we made together. It was to symbolize where we'd come from individually and where we'd arrived, collectively as a couple. I think about our shared experiences built piece by piece.