Aubergine Parma Focaccia Sandwich

February 2021

Bread is my weakness.  I could live without crisps, biscuits, sweets, maybe even chocolate, but not homemade bread.  Consequently, my kitchen experiments often involve trying out different types of bread. When it's a good one, focaccia is one of my favourites - I remember working as a waitress in an Italian restaurant in my teens and the best part of the shift was getting to eat any of the leftover focaccia, baked fresh each afternoon, at the end of the night.  But I was a little anxious as to how it would turn out since I've had plenty of too doughy/ salty/ oily focaccias over the years - it seems a difficult one to consistently perfect.  I'd also seen an Instagram post from a restaurant serving focaccia sandwiches, among which was an aubergine parmigiana filling.  I wanted it. But sadly lockdown prevented me from being able to go there to get one so I decided I had to make my own.  The focaccia itself was actually surprisingly quick and easy to make, following the BBC online recipe, and the filling worked perfectly - the pillowy bread soaking up the auberginey, tomatoey juices, and contrasting against the meatiness of the aubergine, whilst the melty cheese (and added buffalo mozzarella) oozed and ran down my fingers.  It was good, really good, and I want it again!