Grecian inspired Eggplant Zucchini Casserole

Hey there!

Today I had to make dinner for my sister and I. We felt the urge to eat something Grecian inspired, to match with the summery weather we were gifted with during the past days.

Hence I made the decision to prepare my eggplant zucchini casserole.  I know another eggplant side dish, but they are my favourite vegetable and I wouldn’t wonder, if one day I’d find a way to incorporate eggplant into a dessert. How about chocolaty eggplant pudding;)?

Well enough joking, let’s get pack on track.

To infuse this amazing side dish with the greek flavours I added lemon zest as well as its juice, lots of mint, kalamata olives and self dried thyme, which my mums friend actually brought us back from Greece last summer.

As always it turned out delightful. The vegetables were soft and tender, the feta formed a flavourful crust and the added lemon and thyme made our dinner become a full explosion of flavours.

 

In my humble opinion, I have to say my eggplant zucchini casserole makes the perfect light summery side dish. It complements perfectly with fresh fish from the grill as well as the sweet potato chickpea fritters my sister had it accompanied by today.

 

So here you go, the recipe for this quick and easy side dish, which consists of three parts; the base, the topping and the liquid, to keep it from drying out.

 

You will need:

 

Base:

• 2 eggplants
• 1 zucchini

 

1. Preheat oven to 200°C

2. Thinly slice zucchini and eggplant and put it into a casserole dish

Topping:

• 1 leek
• 50g feta
• 180g cherry tomatoes
• 40g kalamata olives

1. Slice leek and olive into thin discs, half the cherry tomatoes

2. Distribute the three components evenly on top of your base layer consisting og eggplant and zucchini

3. Crumble the top with the feta

Liquid:

•  1dl water
• 1tbs olive oil
• 1tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1tsp dried thyme
• a few sprigs of mint
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 1tsp salt
• pepper

 

1. Measure out olive oil, balsamic vinegar ad water

2. Zest lemon into the mixture, then juice it and poor the juice into it as well

3. Finely chop mint

4. Add mint, salt, pepper and dried thyme to the mixture, mix it well through

5. Poor liquid over the casserole

 

Bake the casserole in a 200°C oven(I used the steam feature of my oven for the first half) for approximately 30-40minutes or until the vegetables are soft and tender and the feta forms a slightly brown crust.

 

Voila, Grecian inspired eggplant zucchini casserole, absolutely divine, I must say so.

 

Bisous

Fanny, the foodie