Ingredients:

• mozzarella
• parmesan
• diced tomato
• red pesto
• tomato
• eggplant
• mushroom
• garlic

Preparation:

Heat olive oil in a pan.

Chop or press or BITE a bunch of garlic into the pan/olive oil once it has heated up. It will smell pretty effing awesome.

Place thick cuts of eggplant into pan. Let the garlic and eggplant brown a bit, then flip the pieces of eggplant once so that the slightly browned side is up and the unbrowned side will now remain downwards for the remainder of the process.

The idea is to time out these steps so that the garlic is browned but not burned at this point. Nicely browned garlic doesn't react with the acids in the tomato juices to produce undesirable flavors.

Chop a bunch of mushrooms into quarters and place them into the pan, touching the bottom whenever possible (place them in between the eggplant pieces). The water from the mushrooms should sizzle in the pan once they start cooking - this will keep the other ingredients from burning or browning too much. You can put a lot of mushrooms in; dont worry if it seems like too many, they will cook down later. Cover the pan at this point with a large lid so that the mushrooms on top can start to cook as well.

Chop up 2-3 fresh tomatoes and place them in the pan.

Add one large can of diced tomatoes, and spread the diced tomatoes and fresh tomatoes evenly over the eggplant pieces.

By now there is lots of moisture in the pan and the mushrooms should start to cook down if you have it covered. It should take about 15 minutes. Once the mushrooms have cooked down and have released their moisture into the pan the contents should be relatively flat. The next step is to add red pesto (1/3 to 1/2 jar). Spread it evently along to top of the contents. Then sprinkle on lots of basil, and a bit of oregano. Cover with the lid (while still letting steam escape) and let simmer - this is all at medium heat for the entire process btw, unless you want to back it off a bit near the end.

The flavours will mix into total awesomeness as the juices cook. It may take about 45 minutes. I usually leave it semi covered for a while or take off the lid if I want the moisture to evaporate faster near the end. Once the sauce has thickened to the point where you can still see it bubbling but the ingredients are not "swimming" in liquid, it is ready for the cheese + oven.

The next step is to turn off the heat and sprinkle a block of grated mozzarella cheese over the pan. Then add a bunch of parmesean and a bit of romano (romano is optional). Then place the entire pan in the oven (preheated to 400f). The mozza will melt; the sauce should bubble a bit more. Once the parmesan is browned its time to take it out. Parmesan has got to be the last ingredient so that it's on the top and can be perfectly browned for max tastiness.

Let it all stand 2 minutes and serve. Once you serve the meal you can have a look at the pan. If there is a large amount of soupy liquid left over it wasn't cooked long enough and/or covered too much while cooking. Ideally there should be a little bit of a thick sauce left over in the pan. It should be easy to transfer the sauce to the plate.

And finally say NO to vegans