Melanzane parmigiana con tempeh is one of those classic Italian dishes that I think every vegan should be able to enjoy: once the cheese issue is sorted out. It looks tricky and complicated, but done methodically it’s actually very straightforward. I love aubergines – so this dish is off to a good start with me straight away. Layers of lovely thick slices of oven baked or grilled aubergine – what’s not to love.
It’s yet another variation on the “layers of things” theme. Make a nice rich basil & oregano infused tomato sauce, sprinkle some grated vegan cheese, then a layer of aubergine – repeat four times! Nothing to it. Best way for cooking the aubergines is to oil up an oven tray, set the oven at 180°C (fan) & slice them on a slicer. Brushing them with extra virgin olive oil is essential though to get them nice and brown. It’s about 25 minutes – maybe longer depending on your oven, but check and turn them half-way through.
I find using 2/3 of the mixture as vine tomatoes & a can of chopped is a good way to go. I would use fresh basil, but dried oregano is fine. You need loads of garlic and nice red onions for a really good rich sauce. I also add black pepper, an umami or veg stock cube & some nutritional yeast just to round it out a bit.
My inovation – hinted at in the title is to add some griddled sliced tempeh in between layers 2 & 3. This balances out the protein and adds some extra ooomph and bite in the texture dept. It really does work and compliments the overall effect of the dish very well. I use a block of tempeh sliced on my slicer and then griddled on my kitchenaid electric griddle.
Melanzane parmigiana con tempeh is finished off with a layer of cheese & breadcrumbs a few herbs & bake it in the oven until golden. Tastes gorgeous with hummus and also goes perfectly with garlic bread.
Melanzane Parmigiana con Tempeh
Equipment
- 1 fairly large & deep oven proof dish to create the final dish in 16*27 for single quantity, 25*35 for a double
- 2 oven baking trays for the aubergines but more to do a large quantity in a single batch
- 1 medium to large stove-top pan for the sauce
Ingredients
- 150 g extra virgin olive oil for brushing aubergine slices & sauteeing onions etc.
- 50 g garlic cloves crushed a whole bulb is about right
- 1.6 kg of vine tomatoes nice and ripe is best
- 400 g chopped tinned plum tomatoes one whole can
- 50 g red wine vinegar can use white wine vinegar
- 2 kg large aubergines sliced lengthways just over a CM or 12 on slicer
- 340 g tempeh sliced to 6mm - that's a pack & a half
- 35 g wholemeal breadcrumbs
- 50 g pine nuts
- 350 g vegan mozzarella & cheddar mix grated
- 50 g vegan parmesan cheese violife is very good
- 2 flat tbsps nutritional yeast flakes
- 50 g basil leaves remove thick stalks and chop roughly
- 2 teasps dried oregano or Italian seasoning
- 1 teasp black pepper rounded
Instructions
- slice the aubergines a little over 1cm - 12mm if you want it exact - that's easy on a graef slicer as it's marked in mm!
- brush as many baking sheets as you have available for roasting the aubergine slices. It's important to grease the trays - even though you are also brushing the slices of aubergine because otherwise they will stick to the tray.
- Brush first one side and then the other of each slice and place on the baking trays. Continue until all the slices are done.
- Set the oven on 180°C and put them in. It's good if you can get them all in the oven in one go as it's much more economical both energy and timewise. cook for around 12 minutes per side, turning over at the 12 minute point. The want to be nice and brown.
- next slice the tempeh (if using) into 6mm slices and then either pan fry or cook on the electric griddle. I prefer the griddle as it's easier to control, but eithe is fine. Set aside once cooked.
- Meanwhile dice the onions and begin sauteeing in a large pan. I particularly like the le Creuset sauteuse for that task. Use enough olive oil so they don't stick. Keep the heat low to avoid denaturing the olive oil Over 190°C and it doesn't like it.
- As they begin to soften, add in the crushed garlic - just crush it straight in the pan is easiest. Keeping sauteeing gently on a low heat until nice and soft.
- chop the tomatoes into fairly small pieces and add those. You may need to add more olive oil at this point to continue sauteeing them.
- when they're nicely cooking and broken up, add in the chopped basil, crumbled stock cube, wine vinegar and tinned tomatoes. If you don't want to use any tinned tomatoes, just use more vine tomatoes. continue to cook on a low heat until the sauce is nice and thick, but fully cooked. You can give it a quick mash with a potatoe masher if there are still large lumps, but don't blend it.
- All is ready for the assembly now. You should have around 1,600g of sauce. I know that weights of all my pans (I have a list) so checking how much sauce there is, is dead easy - weigh the pan and subtract the empty weight. Divide this into 5 to give you the weight per layer - just on paper of course.
- Place the oven proof tray you're using on zerobable scales, and weigh in 320 (or 1/5th of the sauce you have.
- sprinkle 80g of the mozzarella/cheddar mix (or your preferred vegan style cheese).
- lay a layer of the baked/browned aubergines on top. Repeat these steps with another sauce/cheese/aubergine layer.
- add a layer of the griddled tempeh. You can also use sliced Taifun brand tofu wiener sausage sliced to 6mm - I prefer the tempeh it has good mouthfeel.
- then repeat the sauce/cheese/aubergine layer 2 more times - then a final layer of sauce, but finish off with the remaining 30g of cheese mix, and the vegan parmesan mixed with the pine nuts.
- finally sprinkle the breadcrumbs and some herbs on top of the dish and bake at 180°C for around 30 minutes until it's fully heated through.
Notes
- If making the full quantity, use the 25cm by 35cm stainless steel deep oven dish.
