Moore food please!: Gratin of Eggplant with Plum Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella and Lemon-Basil Pesto

Oh, fresh mozzarella how I love thee. Laura and I broke out the Cooking for Two: Perfect Meals for Pairs that was a gift from my friend Shawn and his wife (also my cousin) Jill . We like the book, but it does tend to lend itself to more expensive meals than we usually like to make. We found a pretty good deal on the fresh mozzarella and it was oh so tasty, but it isn't something we will splurge on that often.

Tonight's dish is from page 46, Gratin of Eggplant Layered with Plum Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella, and Lemon-Basil Pesto. Yes that is a mouthful, but an oh so tasty mouthful. The pesto was simple: blended pine nuts (that had been roasted in the oven), garlic, Parmesan cheese, fresh basil and lemon juice. The eggplant was browned in a large pan with olive oil and then the yummy layers began.

The pesto brought a bright flavor to the dish that I very much enjoyed. I used too much olive oil in the browning of the eggplant which resulted in far too much liquid coming out in the baking process. Next time we make this we will use less oil on the eggplant and slice it a bit thicker. The mozzarella could have been a bit thinner but that was tricky stuff to slice. Laura thought the cheese could of used a bit more time in the oven, but we both loooooved the fresh mozzarella anyway. We give this one 3.5 of 5 stars.