Living full time on a sailboat in the Mediterranean for over twenty months has had it’s challenges. One major difficulty I’ve had to face is the lack of variety concerning vegetables. For the most part, you can only get tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, carrots, zucchini (corgette) and eggplant (aubergine).
That means that I’ve had to live without celery, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips, other root vegetables, lettuce, cabbage, artichokes, avocado, and on and on.
To further my troubles, I never had the patience to cook with eggplant
To me, it always seemed to be more hassle that it was worth. Yes, I love eggplant parmesan (Eggplant coated in egg and breadcrumbs, fried and layered with mozzarella and red sauce – baked to perfection), but I didn’t want to spend the three hours, on a boat, it takes to make the dish.
After a while of doing everything I possibly could with the other available veggies, I finally had to figure out some easy meals for eggplant. And this is one of them…
The Eggplant Mozzarella Stacks for Sailors is easy, tasty and fast
Ingredients:
- Eggplant/Aubergine
- Large Tomatoes
- Mozzarella Cheese (Ball)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Britican Galley Italian Blend (Buy Here) or similar
- Salt and Pepper (to taste)
- Fresh Basil (to garnish)
The Steps:
1. Clean the eggplant/aubergine and cut into slices – not too thin.
If the eggplant is fresh, you can leave the skin on. Otherwise, if it’s old, remove the skin as it can become tough.
2. Use a brush to paint olive oil over both sides of the slices.
Line them up on a baking tray and cook at 220 C/430 F for 20 to 30 minutes, flipping half way. The thicker they are the longer you’ll need to bake them.
3. Set aside to cool down for later or make straight away.
4. Start the stack with eggplant as the first layer on the plate.
I add a bit of salt and pepper to each layer – you can choose to do this or not.
5. Add a slice or slices of tomato.
6. Add a slice of mozzarella.
7. Mix the oil, vinegar and spices together to form a dressing and pour over the top.
8. Add the fresh basil to garnish and serve with crusty bread.
If you like our best selling anchor pillows (as seen in the background), make sure to visit our store and buy a few for yourself. Check the picture to get more details.
And if you have any other combination of stackers, please let me know by leaving a comment below. I’m always interested in new ideas, tasty combinations and recipes that are fast, easy, nutritious that work while living full time on a sailboat.