This week was a week for revisiting previous countries, as you might have noticed I have cooked two dishes for Germany and if you see my Käsespätzle dish you will see that when I cooked my first dish for Germany a close friend made me promise I would cook something else to truly showcase something German rather than a relatively niche dessert. Her boyfriend is part Greek so naturally when I asked her for a recommendation for a different German dish I also asked for a Greek dish forgetting that I had already cooked one – it was I think my second dish on the blog so I think I can be forgiven for forgetting! It has after all been about 70 dishes since, and I always love an excuse to cook another delicious sounding dish.
So here goes – a delicious aubergine dish stuffed with spiced minced meat and covered in a delicious bechamel sauce. You can easily make this dish vegetarian by omitting the mince and either substituting with vegetables or just filling the aubergine with tomato sauce. I used this recipe here! I made some small adaptations both from looking at other recipes and also availability of ingredients such as parsley which this week just made a run for the hills.
Serves 3
Ingredients
For eggplants and ground meat
3 aubergine, medium sized
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp thyme
1 onion (chopped)
1 clove of garlic (diced)
1 pinch granulated sugar
2 tbsp thyme, dry
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
250 g ground beef, ground
40 g red wine
400 g canned tomatoes
salt
pepper
For the béchamel sauce
20 g butter
20 g all-purpose flour
salt
pepper
250 g milk, at room temperature
50 g gruyere cheese, grated
2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Method
For the eggplants
Preheat oven to 200* C (390* F) Fan.
Cut the aubergine in half lengthwise.
With a sharp knife score the flesh in a diagonal and then repeat on the other diagonal to create a crisscross, don’t tear the skin.
Coat the flesh of the aubergine in 2tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme.
Line a baking pan with parchment paper and add aubergine cut side down.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, and then remove from the oven. Place them skin side down in an oven proof dish (something like a lasagne pyrex dish will work well).
Once they have cooled down slightly press down in the middle firmly to create an indentation, that you will later fill with sauce. Some vegetarian recipes call for one to scoop out the flesh and add to the sauce later, this sounds like a good idea if you’re going veggie!
For the meat
Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a medium pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot add the onion and the garlic. Sauté them for 2-3 minutes then add the sugar, thyme, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper.
Continue to sauté for another 5 minutes until the onions start to caramelise, then add the minced meat in around 3 batches.
Allow each batch to caramelise and make sure you stir to break up any clumps. Once the meat has been added, add the wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate.
Add the tomatoes and bring the mixture to a low boil. Let it boil for 10-15 minutes until it has reduced slightly. Make sure to stir to prevent the bottom of the mixture from burning.
Once cooked set aside and cool slightly. Then fill the indentations in your aubergines.
For the béchamel sauce
If you’re ok at multitasking in the kitchen you can start the bechamel while the above sauce is reducing (after you add the tomatoes), if not it’s ok to wait until after the aubergines are filled.
Place a saucepan over medium heat and add the butter and flour.
Whisk until the butter has melted and the flour is all incorporated into the butter – it will create a thick paste.
Add the milk slowly, about 1-2 tbsp at a time to start with and whisk to incorporate. Once you have a thin paste you can begin to add the milk slightly more quickly. If you add the milk too quickly to begin with you will create lumps which are hard to get rid of down the line.
As soon as the sauce starts to bubble remove it from the heat.
Add the cheese, nutmeg, salt, pepper and egg yolks, whisk until all the ingredients are incorporated and the cheese melted.
Cover the aubergines in the bechamel sauce and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until they are golden.
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