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Cheese-stuffed aubergine served with tomato sauce.

Rustic regional dishes & savoury baking

Aubergines à la Bonifacienne

By Anne Lataillade

Tender aubergines, fragrant basil and plenty of cheese make this Bonifacio speciality a generous meal. Their own flesh is folded into the filling with milk-soaked bread, garlic and eggs, then baked until golden. Sheep’s cheese and aged Parmesan give it a savoury richness, brightened by warm tomato sauce. Anne Lataillade’s oven finish brings all four stuffed halves to the table together, soft inside with lightly browned tops.

Prep
35 min
Cook
50 min
Published total
1 hr 25 min
Serves4
Jump to recipe ↓Papilles et Pupilles ↗

Ingredients

Stuffed aubergines

To serve

Method

  1. Wash the aubergines, remove the stalks and halve lengthways. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cook the halves about 15 minutes, turning halfway, in two batches if needed. The flesh should be tender and the skins strong enough to fill.
  2. Drain well and leave until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, tear the stale bread into a bowl, pour over the milk and leave to soak.
  3. Remove the aubergine flesh carefully without damaging the skins. Squeeze out excess water, and squeeze the soaked bread too. Coarsely blend the bread; grate or briefly process the cheeses.
  4. Heat the oven to 200°C /392°F fan. Roughly chop the aubergine flesh and mix with the bread, eggs, cheeses, pressed garlic,5 g sliced basil and pepper. Mix evenly by hand without puréeing. The source adds no salt to the filling.
  5. Fill the four aubergine shells generously. Put 1 tablespoon olive oil into a large baking dish, arrange the stuffed halves and bake 20–25 minutes at 200°C fan until set and golden.
  6. Meanwhile, warm the 350 g tomato sauce gently. Spoon hot sauce onto four plates, add one stuffed aubergine half to each and finish with a few fresh basil leaves.

Equipment

Large sauté pan or saucepan; Colander; Mixing bowls; Food processor or grater; Grapefruit knife or small knife; Large baking dish; Saucepan

Notes

  • Moisture matters: drain the aubergines well and squeeze the flesh and soaked bread. Remove excess liquid rather than drying everything out. A grapefruit knife helps separate the flesh from the skins without tearing them.
  • Cheese and salt: good Corsican sheep’s cheese is welcome if available. This batch uses 100 g Basque sheep’s cheese and 37.5 g aged Parmesan. Leave extra salt out of the filling; the cheeses supply it.
  • Mixing and stuffing: use your hands to distribute the bread, cheese and aromatics evenly without turning the mixture into a purée. Fill generously: the mixture fits all four halves.
  • Advance preparation: stuff a few hours ahead, cover and refrigerate, then bake near serving time. Hold the tomato sauce separately.
  • Reheating: give cooked aubergines 15–20 minutes at 160°C fan, until hot through. Cover lightly for the first part if the filling needs protection from drying. Heat the sauce in a separate pan.
  • Freezing: freeze only after cooking and cooling, preferably without the sauce. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating; expect a softer aubergine texture.
  • Serving: this batch makes four stuffed halves from two aubergines, one half per person.
  • Eggs: beat an egg before measuring the half needed, rather than rounding the quantity up or down.
  • Timing: the source’s 35-minute preparation and 50-minute cooking figures leave cooling and possible separate boiling batches unquantified. Keep the stated cooking stages and judge when the filling is set and golden.

Photos

14 photos
Several glossy purple eggplants on a wooden cutting board with a pepper grinder and potted plants in the background, in a rustic kitchen.IngredientsWhole auberginesFromage de brebis et vieux ParmesanIngredientsSheep’s cheese and aged ParmesanIngrédients de la farce aux aubergines, œufs et fromagesIngredientsIngredients for the fillingAubergines coupées en deux dans la longueurStep 1Aubergines halved lengthwaysDemi-aubergines cuites égouttées dans une passoireStep 1Cooked aubergines drainingMorceaux de pain rassis trempés dans du laitStep 2Stale bread soaking in milkChair d’une aubergine cuite retirée avec un couteau à pamplemousseStep 3Removing the cooked fleshPain rassis imbibé de lait puis mixéStep 3Soaked bread, coarsely processedFromage de brebis et Parmesan finement mixésStep 3Finely processed cheesesFarce des aubergines à la bonifacienne mélangéeStep 4The mixed fillingAubergines à la bonifacienne farcies avant cuissonStep 5Stuffed halves ready for the ovenAubergines à la bonifacienne gratinées à la sortie du fourFinished dishGolden aubergines from the ovenCheese-stuffed aubergine served with tomato sauce.ServingAubergine with tomato sauceAubergine farcie à la bonifacienne avec coulis de tomateServingStuffed aubergine ready to serve

Aubergines à la Bonifacienne

Recipe photos

About this dish

Bonifacio knows these stuffed aubergines as mirizani, and they have a place at the town’s September celebrations. On 8 September, families gather at the Ermitage de la Trinité and share the aubergines beneath oaks and olive trees after the service, while waiting for the procession. Their bread-and-cheese filling makes a substantial meal from the vegetable’s own flesh.

A television report featuring Max Pichardie of L’An-K prompted Anne Lataillade to make them. She combined his brief outline with Corsican recipes to work out her own proportions. Then practicality intervened: her frying pan would not hold eight halves, so into the oven they went, ready together for the table.

Readily available Basque sheep’s cheese joined the Parmesan. She jokingly asked the Corsicans’ forgiveness, hoping Bonifacio would welcome her back after she had brought the cheese across the Pyrenees. The filling remains generous, with garlic and basil running through it. Pressing excess moisture from both aubergine and bread keeps that mixture soft and cohesive without letting it become waterlogged.

Recipe and cooking notes adapted from Papilles et Pupilles.