One pan easy vegetable bake that comes together in just a couple of minutes. As promised, no fuss no frill recipes. Prepare your vegetables and bake and you have a delicious vegetable bake.
Slice & salt the eggplant. Leave to drain for approximately 30 minutes.
Meanwhile slice all the peppers and onions.
Prepare an oven tray by spreading some of the tomato (from the canned tomato) on the bottom of the tray. No need for spray & cook or any oil.
Rinse the salt off of the eggplant and pat dry. Heat a grilling pan and while it heats up, rub a good amount of vegetable oil on either side of the eggplants before laying them on the hot pan to grill on both sides. Use enough oil to prevent the eggplant from burning.
Place your grilled eggplants into the oven tray on top of the red sauce that you put in earlier from the can. Continue layering all the veggies & canned tomato into the pan.
WHITE SAUCEHeat a saucepan and add the butter to meltAdd some of the flour and mix using a whisk before adding some milkKeep adding flour & milk and whisk continuously to prevent the white sauce from lumping. As you whisk remove from the heat for a second, whisk and back on the stove until you have a smooth white sauce. For a creamier taste add less milk and use the coconut milk instead. Its optional of-course but very delicious. Pour the sauce over the veggies and bake for 10-minutes
Remove from the oven, add grated cheese or Parmesan and return to grill till brown.
Notes
Things to Remember When Making White Sauce
When making a white sauce, make sure the stove not on high
You must work quickly to prevent any lumps from forming
Start with the butter in the pan and rather add the flour and milk in sections not all at the same time
Add a little flour into the melted butter, remove the pan from the heat and mix it together. It will will a lumpy mix (its okay!)
Add a little more milk, return the pan to the heat, whisk vigorously and once you see it start to thicken, remove from the heat again
Its an 'on the heat off the heat process' until you have combined all the milk and flour but its the only way you are guaranteed to get a smooth consistency.
Not just for this recipe but any recipe that calls for white sauce, add a little of flour or milk as needed to get the correct consistency. You can also add a pinch of salt while mixing or pepper. I don't add salt & pepper but I do add about a 1/4 tsp of nutmeg spice.
