Un brin de bonheur – Napoléon d’aubergines, pleurottes géantes et manchego – Concassée de tomates

For the pastry “connaisseurs“, Napoléon is a famous pastry from Eastern Europe, made out different layers of crème patissière (custard), and puff pastry. While in Lithuania, and during its Russian campaign, Napoléon fell in love with this dessert, and named it after himself. The rumors even say that he lost the battle of Waterloo, because he ate so many of these the night before the battle. But of course, those are earsay, and only historians can prove this fact.

This is my savory version of Napoléon. This savory Napoléon has different layers of king oyster mushrooms and eggplants. King oyster mushrooms are simply oyster mushrooms that are grown to a large size, just like portobello are cremini mushrooms grown until they reached a particular size. What I like about king oysters is their meaty legs that remind of the fresh porcini, you can just slice them and enjoy them saute with garlic and parsley or any way you like.

This savory version of Napoleon has manchego and a drizzle of a parsley/garlic/paprika/olive oil mixture in between the layers, which adds a pleasant note to each bite. The concassée finishes the dish with a nice balance of chili and slight acidity of the tomato.

These cute little bundles of vegetables can be served as an appetizer, then two would be perfect, but then there is no rule in the number want to add on each plate.

Ingredients for 4-6 pieces

  • 1 medium size eggplant (seedless), sliced
  • 1 large king oyster, sliced
  • 1/2 cup manchego, sliced
  • 1 zucchini, sliced lenghtwise
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • Fleur de sel
  • pepper

For the herb-oil

  • 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • salt and pepper

For the tomato concassée

  • 2 medium sized, heirloon tomato, chopped, peeled and seedless
  • 1 tbs extra virgin fruity olive oil
  • cayenne pepper
  • fleur de sel

Preparation

Grill eggplants on a grill pan or cast iron grid. Set aside. Saute mushroom slices in 1 tbs olive oil. Slice zucchini with a mandoline, making ribbons. Grill zucchini on a grill pan. Set aside.

For the herb-oil, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

For the tomato concassée, after peeling the tomatoes, crush one tomato, with a mixer to make a purée. Cut the other tomato in small pieces. Mix both tomatoes, add cayenne, pepper and fleur de sel. Add olive oil. Mix well.

Start assembling the napoleon. In a flat surface, place one slice of eggplant. Add 1/2 tsp of herb-oil. Place one slice of mushroom on top. Add manchego. Proceed with another slice of eggplant, mushroom and manchego. Wrap it all with two slices of zucchini (one might be too short to be wrapped around). Place in a pre-heated oven at 390F until the manchego has melted.

Serve in a plate with one tbs of tomato concassée. Drizzle extra olive oil on the tomatoes, and add some cracked black pepper.