Eggplant Gratin with Saffron Custard

Adapted from Deborah Madison – Greens Cookbook 1987

A friend who lives in Ireland wrote me recently to tell me that she had made a dish from our time together in the San Francisco Bay area. Back in the 80’s, we had a lot of fun cooking, listening to music and dancing with an occasional glass of wine thrown in. This post is for you, Maire.

If the title doesn’t make your mouth water (unless you are not an eggplant/aubergine lover), the recipe will convince you to try this. I made the mistake once of throwing an elaborate dinner party that took me all day to prepare with the main course being an eggplant dish from the New Orleans Chef, Paul Prudhomme. Unfortunately, not all my guests liked eggplant and there was a lot of moving it around on their plates.

The original recipe calls for frying the eggplant, using cream in the custard and adding Gruyere cheese. This is a new twist – Madison revamped it in 2017 with her cookbook: In My Kitchen. This version is sleeker but as Madison says “better for it.”

Eggplant Gratin, Serves 4, Gluten Free

2 lb small glove or larger oblong eggplants

olive oil

1 small red onion

1 plump clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp herbes de Provence

2 1/2 lb ripe full sized tomatoes peeled and chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

2 eggs

1 cup ricotta

1/4 cup whole milk

1 good pinch saffron threads crumpled and soaked in 1 tbsp hot water

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

10 large basil leaves torn into pieces

Step 1 Heat oven to 400 F

Step 2 Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. If you have one large eggplant, cut it in quarters. Slice each piece crosswise about 1/2 inch thick. Brush the slices lightly with the oil, set them on a sheet pan, bake until the bottom sides have just started to brown (about 15 minutes). Turn them over and brown the second side (about 8 minutes). When the eggplant is done, remove from oven and reduce the heat to 350.

Step 3   To make the tomato sauce, peel and chop the tomatoes. Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in wide skillet, when hot add the onion, garlic, and herbes de Provence (crushed between your fingers). Stir to coat and reduce heat to medium low and cook slowly until soft, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the chopped fresh tomatoes, raise the heat and cook stirring occasionally until the liquid has cooked off and the sauce is fairly thick. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 4 To make the custard, whisk the eggs and stir in the ricotta, milk, saffron and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Season with a few pinches of salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

Step 5 Choose an earthenware casserole with 2 inch sides and an 8 cup capacity. An oval dish 8″ wide and about 12″ long allows the ingredients to spread to a thin layer along with the custard topping.

Step 6 – Final Step Spread a cup of the sauce in the dish and set down an overlapping layer of eggplant. Scatter half the torn basil over the surface and season with salt and pepper. Dab about 1/4 cup of the sauce over the eggplant and then maker another layer of eggplant and torn basil and cover with the remaining tomato sauce. Pour the custard over all and bake until it has gently swelled and is browned in places, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. If there is any left over, it is good at room temperature or cold.

Madison grew up first on a dairy farm in upstate New York, then in a walnut orchard in Davis, California. She put her passion for cooking into motion at the San Francisco Zen Center where she was a student for eighteen years. After eating her first meal at Chez Panisse in 1977, she immediately went to work there until opening Greens Restaurant in 1979. Greens was one of the earliest Bay Area restaurants to have a farm-driven menu as her nearby farm, Green Gulch, provided beautiful, organically grown vegetables to cook with. She is truly one of the pioneers of vegetarian farm-to-table cuisine. An Onion In My Pocket, her latest work is scheduled to come out in September 2020. It is not a cookbook – it is a food memoir.