Eggplant and potatoes au gratin

I was poking around in my photo archive this morning when i came across the recipe that I published six years ago. I've decided to make it for lunch, but using lasagna noodles instead of potatoes. I'll let you know how it works out.

In a book about Moroccan tajines (spicy stews) that I've had for a few years now, I recently noticed a recipe for eggplant (aubergines) that tempted me. I read it and thought about it for a couple of days, and it dawned on me that it didn't have any Moroccan spices in it. Those were easy to add and they really livened the tomatoes up.

Thinking about how tajines are often sweet and spicy at the same time, and how there's a recipe in the book for chicken with tomatoes and honey — I've made that before — I decided to add a big spoonful or two of honey to the spicy tomato sauce I was making for this gratin. It worked really well. And since I had some ground veal in the freezer, I thought: why not make this a meat sauce and turn it into a full meal? There's no cheese in it, but we ended up grating some Parmesan over it at the table.

Instead of frying or even baking the eggplant slices, Walt browned and partially cooked them on the barbecue grill out on the terrace (photo below). That added really good flavor to the dish. The recipe turns out to be a kind of Moroccan-spiced lasagna with layers of sliced, pre-cooked potato in the place of pasta.

Moroccan eggplant and potatoes au gratin

2 large eggplants (aubergines)
2 or more large potatoes
5 tomatoes
3 onions
3 cloves of garlic
1 or 2 Tbsp. honey (to taste)
3 parsley stalks
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. dried thyme
4 Tbsp. olive oil
optional: oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
ras-el-hanout spices to taste

Cut the eggplants into slices and brush the slices with olive oil. Cook them on the barbecue grill or on a baking sheet in the oven. It’s messier, but you can also fry them in a non-stick pan on the stove.

Wash the potatoes and boil or steam them until they are mostly done but still firm. When they’ve cooled down, peel them and cut them into slices.

Peel the onions and the garlic cloves. Cut the onions into slices. Dice, mash, or slice the garlic cloves. Optionally, peel the tomatoes by dropping them for a few seconds into boiling water, putting them into cold water to cool down, and then slipping the skins off.

Make tomato sauce: sweat the onions and tomatoes together in olive oil in a frying pan, and then add the garlic and parsley. Add salt and pepper, thyme, and bay leaf. Season the mixture with ras-el-hanout spices and some cayenne pepper (don't overdo it) and let it cook for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF). When the tomato sauce is cooked, put a layer of it in the bottom of a baking dish. Over it put alternating layers of potatoes, eggplant, and sauce, finishing with a layer of tomato sauce. If all the ingredients are hot, slide the dish into the oven and let it cook for 5 minutes. If the ingredients are cold, slide the dish into the hot oven, and gradually turn the heat down so that the ingredients heat through without burning on the bottom or top.

P.S. My store-bought, imported ras-el-hanout
spice blend contains:

   • curry (curry)
   • coriander seeds (coriandre)
   • cumin (cumin)
   • salt (sel)
   • carraway (carvi)
   • turmeric (curcuma)
   • corn starch (farine de mais)
   • piment fort (hot red pepper)
   • cayenne (cayenne pepper)

Modify freely...