Eggplant Gâteaux

Last week, was a busy week (when is it not?) but I was in the mood to cook something different and delicious. I'm usually making stir fries with whatever is in my fridge, mainly because that is quick and easy, but on this occasion, I decided to indulge and take my time --- make something really different. For that, I had to consult my favorite: Gordon Ramsay.

I opened up my very first Gordon Ramsay cooking, "Gordon Ramsay: Makes It Easy", and started flipping through the pages. I should say that I have had this book for at least 5 years and it's starting to fall apart...that's how often I use it! It also has food stains for being in the kitchen whilst I cooked...essentially, the book is showing a lot of wear and tear from all of the love that I have shown it over the years. ;D

After a few minutes of perusing the pages, I decided to make an old favorite of mine, Gordon's Eggplant Gâteaux. It's basically like lasagna, but instead of pasta, you layer with eggplant. Brilliant! I added a bit of protein with some ground beef, which was a nice addition and quite tasty. 

Preparing the dish is a bit labor intensive, but not difficult. You have to prep the eggplant (thinly slice, oven roast), sauté the filling ingredients, and then layer everything....which again, isn't hard, just a bit time consuming...especially if your kitchen is small and cooking equipment is limited (ie, you are constantly washing). 

Overall, the dish turned out marvelously and I enjoyed every mouthful! This is a great casserole dish which can be fed to the family or made for a single gal (like me) and frozen for consumption at a later date! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
- 2 containers cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- grated parmesan cheese
- a couple tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon garlic
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- handful of basil leaves, shredded
Directions: 
1. Preheat your oven to 400 F. Prepare a baking pan. I lined mine with aluminum foil and sprayed it with PAM. 

2. Prepare the eggplant. Peel and slice thinly. Lay out on baking sheet and cover with olive oil.
Let bake in oven for about 10 min or until golden brown. Once cooked, take out of oven and set aside. 
3. Chop the onion and cherry tomatoes
4. Melt butter in pan
5. Add onions and tomatoes to pan. Sauté until soft and pulpy.
6. In a separate pan, sauté the ground beef.
7.  Add shredded basil to pan
8. Add beef to pan
9. Prepare a baking dish by spraying with PAM or cooking spray. Line bottom with some eggplant.
10. Add the tomato/onion/beef/basil mixture on top
11. Sprinkle  mixture with cheese
12. Add another layer of eggplant on top and spoon rest of mixture on top. Cover with more cheese.
13. Add final layer of eggplant and cover top with cheese. 
14. Let eggplant gâteaux bake in over for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese turn golden brown.
Et voila! 
I enjoyed my slice of eggplant gâteaux with my mom's homemade shiso juice. Yum!!!

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