Eggplant Mille-Feuille With Red Peppers Cream

When you say mille-feuille, it is but natural to think of the traditional French puff pastry layers with cream filling in between. The word means "a thousand leaves" in French. But in this recipe by Chef Jean Andre Charial of the L'Oustau de Baumaniere, it is not a dessert but a layered savory eggplant dish with red pepper cream sauce. The name then is a riff from the layering in the original dessert recipes. The resulting main course or entree is a hefty, red-tinged baked eggplant with a French twist.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 lbs. eggplants
1.8 oz. flour
1 cup cream
1 pint olive oil
3 red peppers
1 lemon

Preparation:

1. Prepare the red peppers. Cut red bell peppers in two then take out the seeds. Dice the peppers then sauté using olive oil until it’s started to be juiced.
2. Cut the lemon and extract the juice. Pour some lemon juice in then pour all the cream next. Leave it to simmer.
3. Prepare the first eggplant component. Cut both ends of one eggplant. Place in a foil drizzled with olive oil. Season with some salt, wrap it up, and then bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
4. Take another eggplant and slice into thin chips. Cover with flour then deep fry in olive oil. Drain.
5. When the first eggplant is baked, halve vertically then scoop out the flesh. Place the flesh in a pan, pour some olive oil then salt and pepper. Purée. Remove the simmered tomatoes from heat.
6. Assemble the layers. Create three layers of alternate eggplant puree and eggplant chips. Create two of this, placing it side by side, then pour some of the pepper cream around it.