Savoury aubergine parmigiana strudel in puff pastry
A savoury puff pastry strudel filled with grilled aubergines, reduced tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan: all the flavours of parmigiana in a crisp slice.
Are you after the flavours of parmigiana in a version that is quicker and easier to serve?
Then this savoury strudel is for you. I will walk you through filling a sheet of puff pastry with grilled aubergines, reduced tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan, and rolling it up so it does not split in the oven.
The idea is to take the layers of a parmigiana and turn them ninety degrees: instead of stacking them in a dish, you spread them on pastry and roll. The result slices into rounds that stand up on the plate, far easier to serve and to carry.
There are at least three good reasons to make it: just over an hour of work, no frying, and the kind of look that holds its own on a buffet table.
Everything depends on moisture. The sauce must be reduced until thick, the aubergines grilled rather than fried, the mozzarella drained, and a layer of breadcrumbs spread under the filling to absorb whatever is left. With those four precautions the pastry stays crisp even the next day.
Serve it warm, after a quarter of an hour of rest, when the slices cut cleanly and the filling stays put. With a salad alongside it becomes a complete meal.
Ready? Let’s get started with the aubergine parmigiana strudel.
Base preparations used
Steps
- Slice the aubergines thinly lengthways, salt them and let them drain for 20 minutes, then dry them and griddle them for 2 minutes per side. Grilled rather than fried, they do not weigh the pastry down with oil.
- Reduce the tomato sauce in a small pan for 15 minutes with a drizzle of oil and a few basil leaves, until thick enough to leave the spoon clean. A runny sauce would ruin the pastry from the inside.
- Slice the mozzarella and let it drain on kitchen paper.
- Unroll the pastry on its baking paper and scatter the breadcrumbs over the surface, leaving three centimetres clear around the edges: the breadcrumbs absorb any remaining moisture and keep the base dry.
- Spread over the grilled aubergines, the reduced sauce, the mozzarella, the parmesan and the torn basil, without overloading.
- Roll the strudel up using the baking paper, seal the edges and ends by pressing with your fingers, and move it to the tray seam side down.
- Brush with the yolk, cut three diagonal slashes in the surface to let steam escape and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 35 to 40 minutes, until deep golden. Rest for 15 minutes before slicing.
Helpful tips
The slashes are not decoration: with no vent the steam inflates the strudel and splits it along one side.
Do not overfill: a thin even layer rolls neatly, a thick one pushes against the seams.
The breadcrumbs under the filling are your insurance against a soggy base, the classic problem with tomato fillings.
Excellent warm or at room temperature, which makes it ideal for a buffet.
Average nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 430 kcal
- Carbohydrates
- 30.0 g
- Sugars
- 7.0 g
- Protein
- 15.0 g
- Fat
- 27.0 g
- Saturated fat
- 12.0 g
- Fiber
- 4.0 g
- Sodium
- 650 mg
You might also like
Related recipes
Selected based on the same practical features as this recipe.
Baked aubergine rounds with cherry tomatoes, served cold
Aubergine rounds baked until meltingly soft, then cooled and topped with finely chopped cherry tomatoes, olive oil and basil. A very simple summer cold dish.
Baked potato and pumpkin gratin with crisp golden edges
A baked potato and pumpkin gratin with thin slices stacked upright, seasoned with parmesan and rosemary and roasted until the top edges turn crisp and golden.
Perfect roast potatoes, crunchy outside and fluffy inside
Genuinely crispy roast potatoes: parboiled, shaken to roughen the surface and roasted with rosemary and garlic until deeply golden and crunchy.