Cheesy Gratin with Potato and Aubergine

Where is the recipe from?

Waitrose website. [link to recipe]




Ingredients & any changes made?

potatoes, onion, 1 clove garlic, ½ tsp ground cinnamon (optional) 400g can Waitrose Chopped Italian Tomatoes with Herbs
2 aubergines, trimmed and cut lengthways into ½cm slices, 75g Castelli Vegetalia Italian hard cheese, grated
, 500g pot Waitrose Virtually Fat Free Natural Fromage Frais, 1 medium egg, beaten.

A few minor alterations, the cheese, fromage frais, and the tomatoes I used were different. Even though I did my shopping online with them, they didn't seem to have the exact same things needed for their recipe! But I don't think it made any difference really.

Verdict? It's a recipe that takes a bit of effort. Not a ridiculous amount, much the same if you were making a cottage pie, and needed to do separate prep before putting the dish together.
It turned out really well, and I liked it a lot.

If I were to make it again I would halve the ingredients. I am the only one who eats aubergine in this house, and after having a pretty large amount for lunch, felt a bit sick of it. But that's my own fault for being greedy. I'd also use less cinnamon. I'd say it's a vital addition to anything that remotely resembles moussaka, and this is obviously a vegetarian version. I wasn't keen on the use of fromage frais either, which I'd forgotten, tends to go a bit odd and wobbly. On the website someone suggested using a jar of sauce, so I'd swap the fromage frais for that too, but that's just my personal taste and I'd prefer the texture.

All in all, a nice recipe. I love anything with aubergine in it so this is a good one to have up your sleeve. That said, I'm not in any rush to make it again any time soon. But I'm glad to have tried it.