Stuffed Eggplants (Melitzanes Papoutsaki)

Ingredients

•     1 egg
•     150g (0.35 pounds)grated gruiere cheese
•     nutmeg (grated)
•     olive oil
•     1 cup full fat milk
•     6 medium tomatoes
•     Butter (salted)
•     2 cloves of garlic
•     all purposer flour
•     1 large onion
•     fresh parsley
•     225gr (0.5 pounds) minced meat
•     pepper
•     5 medium size eggplants
•     salt

Directions

0. Preheat your oven to 180C (350F), Preheat a frying pan, and have ready a saucepan and another frying pan.

1. Finely chop 4 of the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Also slice the other 2 tomatoes and set aside the slices on a plate.

2. Finely chop the onion and the garlic and set aside.

3. Finely chop up about half a cup of parsley.

4. Wash the eggplants and cut off the stems. Slice the eggplants in half (lengthwise).

5. Using a small spoon remove seeds from the core and discard them. Then use a knife and a spoon to remove the pulp from the inside of the eggplant and deposit it in another bowl. Be very careful not to rupture the skin of the eggplant while scooping it out.

6. Finely chop the inside of the eggplants and set aside.

7. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil in a preheated frying pan and sautee the onions and garlic. Once the onions begin to run golden add the chopped eggplants and stir the mix for about 3 minutes.

8. Add the minced meat to the mix and keep stirring till the meat begins to brown. Then add the chopped tomatoes, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

9. Reduce the heat and allow the mix to simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Check occasionally to see if the liquid has been absorbed, if it has remove from the heat.

10. While the mix is simmering in the frying pan you can make the Bechamel Sauce. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over low heat. The moment the butter melts completely add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir well so that there are no lumps of flour.

11. Gradually Pour 1 cup of of milk while continuing to stir. Once the mixture becomes creamy remove from the heat (its important not to overcook it). Add a pinch of nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

12. Allow a few minutes for the sauce to cool down and then add 1 egg yolk and stir really well.

13. Sautee the eggplant halves on both sides using a touch of olive oil. Do not overcook, you only want the eggplants to soften up a bit.

14. In a backing pan, place the eggplant halves and use a spoon to fill each one with the meat/tomato mix we ended up with in step 9 and add a teaspoon of Bechamel sauce over each one.

15. Add a slice of tomato over each eggplant and then divide the grated Gruierre over the eggplants.

16. Cook for approximately 90 minutes on the lowest rack position(Bechamel and cheese should be brown by then).

Produces 10 pieces, served hot or cold.

Source: Greekrecipes.gr