Les aubergines en estrasses

Fried aubergines with a tomato sauce

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Preparation info
  • Serves

    4

    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
Magrets & Mushrooms: More Country Recipes from South-West France

By Jeanne Strang

Published 2024

  • About

Erick Vedel, the famous expert on Provençal cookery and its history, kindly showed me his preferred version of presenting aubergines. It is a reminder that he serves the sauce cold. Estrasses are in the Occitan language bits of cloth, which the cooked aubergines are thought to resemble.

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-sized aubergines (about 900 g)
  • coarse salt, for sprinkling
  • 1 kg

Method

Trim the ends of the aubergines and cut them lengthwise into 1 cm slices.

Lay them out on a plate or board and sprinkle with coarse salt. Leave to disgorge their juices for 20 minutes before turning and salting a little more. Leave a further 15 minutes. Pat the slices dry with a towel or kitchen paper.

Make a tomato sauce by cooking the tomatoes, onions and garlic in olive and f