Eggplant, Tomato and Mozzarella Stacks, Hot or Cold

"So easy, so few ingredients, and so tasty! Simply heat this in winter for a side dish, or serve it cold with a vinaigrette dressing in summer, as a salad. It's best to use fresh herbs, which I could not get because I made this in midwinter and I had to use dried herbs."
 
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photo by Zurie photo by Zurie
photo by Zurie
photo by Rita1652 photo by Rita1652
photo by Rita1652 photo by Rita1652
photo by Kathy photo by Kathy
photo by Kathy photo by Kathy
Ready In:
30mins
Ingredients:
7
Serves:
2-4
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ingredients

  • 2 eggplants (nicely round, not slender)
  • 4 teaspoons olive oil (or more)
  • 2 large ripe tomatoes
  • 8 slices mozzarella cheese (pre-spiced is fine)
  • finely chopped herbs (like basil, oreganum, thyme)
  • salt and black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons vinaigrette dressing (if making this a salad)
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directions

  • Heat oven to 350 deg F/180 deg Celsius.
  • From each eggplant/aubergine, slice 6 rounds, about 1/3" thick. Discard the thinner ends. You now have 12 rounds. Put a sheet of nonstick baking paper on a cookie tin. Arrange the slices in a single layer, and drizzle each with a little olive oil.
  • Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the slices are soft -- do not burn. Cool and keep.
  • To assemble, slice each tomato into 4 even slices, discarding the ends, so you have 8 tomato slices.
  • Chop your herbs of choice finely, or use dried herbs if fresh herbs are not available.
  • Starting with an eggplant slice, stack each of 4 stacks as follows: eggplant, tomato, mozzarella, eggplant again, tomato slice, eggplant, mozzarella slice.
  • SEASON each layer lightly as you go, with just tiny pinches of salt, and a sprinkle of herbs and black pepper.
  • You will have 4 stacks, serving 2 - 4 people.
  • As a warm side dish: heat gently in a warm oven (under cooking point of 212 deg F) until the tomato slices are warm and the mozzarella melts. Delicious with fried chicken pieces/.
  • As a salad: drizzle with a tangy French vinaigrette and serve with toasted bruschetta slices.

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Reviews

  1. This was really yummy, and super easy too. I did make several tweaks. I lightly salted each eggplant slice, and was fairly generous with the brushed-on olive oil. Then, as another reader suggested, I put an onion slice on each slice of eggplant. But I did this right off, making sure the onion got some olive oil as well. After 15 minutes in the oven,I flipped the eggplant, salting lightly again, brushing with more olive oil, and lightly rubbing each slice with a bit of crushed garlic. I left the onions on the baking sheet to continue carmelizing. After 15 more minutes, I sprinkled on a nice pinch of herbes de Provence, and stacked on the tomato slices and the mozzarella, leaving it all in the 350 oven until the mozzarella was good and melted, maybe about 12 minutes more. The onions were by now nicely carmelized, adding a most delicious sweetness to the dish. It made a wonderful light main course.
     
  2. What a hit this was at my house! I say this with true joy as all my students right now are from Asian countries and and don't go much for cheese. After reading the reviews I did add a some grilles onions with a little fresh garlic.I. I did cut the cheese as thin as I could. Now my big change came in how I served it. I used each stack to stuff baked portobello mushroom caps. I also drizzled just a touch of rice wine vinegar. Yes, I did make changes to your recipe but without your original one, how would I gotten to this? Thanks for a really enjoyable recipe
     
  3. Love this healthy and easy to make recipe. I used 1 eggplant 2 tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese adding leftover roasted Exotic Mushrooms consisting off Oyster, Maitake, and Lion's mane. After 15 minutes of roasting the eggplant I flipped then topped with very thinly sliced onion and minced garlic. I opted for a warm meal being January. So I layered all the ingredients with dried summer herbs and placed in the oven to heat n melt the cheese. Thank you.
     
  4. Eggplant is my favorite "new" ingredient this summer. I'm discovering new ways to prepare an old favorite that I used to prepare only as eggplant parmesan. This is a great recipe for a light summer dinner. To serve, I drizzled the stacks with balsamic viniagrette. My mozzarella slices were too thick, and next time I'll use thinner slices. I made this recipe as a last-minute idea for dinner and only had dried herbs on hand. Fresh herbs would make it even better.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I'm a widow, retired, and I love cooking. I live on the coast in South Africa and I love seafood. You're welcome to my recipes (all kinds, definitely not just seafood!) Just remember that no recipe is ever cast in stone -- adjust to your taste! The photo was taken at a rustic seaside restaurant on our West Coast, approx 1 year ago (2016).
 
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