[despoinaki]

Hey guys, as some members asked some eggplant recipes, so here it is! You may find this a little complicated, but it's totally worth it! My grandma used to make this! The recipe is hers!
You can also see pics of papoutsakia in this site: ?????????? ??????????? and step-by-step pics so it's really helpful!

Ingredients (for 5 people)

5 medium eggplants
1/2 pound ground beef
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup of chopped fresh parsley
2 cups tomato puree
olive oil
1 cup of grated parmesan
salt
pepper
1 cup of basic béchamel
this includes:
1 cup of hot milk
3 tbsps flour
3 tbsps butter
1 egg
salt and pepper

Wash and dry the eggplants and cut in half, lengthwise. Salt them and leave them for 1-2 hours. Then squeeze them until most of the water is gone.

Preheat large frying pan (with cover) on low heat. Saute the eggplants for a little bit.Put them in a baking pan. Then sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, using the frying pan that has the cover. When the onions soften, stir in the ground beef and sauté until it starts to brown. Stir in tomatoes, parsley, garlic, pinches of salt and pepper (to taste), and reduce heat. Simmer covered for 20 minutes or until the sauce melds and the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat, and set aside.

For the bechamel sauce:

In a saucepan, melt the butter on low heat. As soon as it starts to bubble (not brown) add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until there are no lumps, Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the sauce begins to thicken - creamy without being too thick (it will thicken further after removing from the heat). Remove from the heat and stir in salt and pepper. Allow the sauce to cool for a few minutes before stirring in the egg until well blended.

Preheat oven to 180 C.
Click the eggplants lengthwise in the center with a spoon , to form dent and sprinkle some of the cheese to cover the bottom of the well in the eggplant and put 2-3 tablespoons of filling on each. Spoon over the béchamel sauce (about 1-2 tablespoons for each piece). When all the eggplants are finished, sprinkle the remaining grated cheese over the top.
Bake until the béchamel is browned, the cheese on top is browned, and the eggplants are soft, 1 hour at least.
Remove the eggplants from the pan with a spatula and serve warm.
Enjoy!

 

[eduardo]

Thank you so much Despina for the recipe! I can always count on you :thumbsup: You must be a very good cook

 

[despoinaki]

Thank you so much Despina for the recipe! I can always count on you :thumbsup: You must be a very good cook

Aww Dee, thank you! People say I am a good cook, so that must be true
I'll post the second one soon!
That link I posted, does it work for you? It works here.

 

[AnimalKaperz]

Ohhh sounds yummy! I am a vegetarian, so I could change the ground beef for something like Lynda McCartney "mince" (it even is beef coloured! But a soy based veg)

I LOVE egg plant - but all I know how to do with them is cut, salt, then rinse and dry and egg and breadcrumb them. So this is an awesome recipe. Thank you!

 

[despoinaki]

Ohhh sounds yummy! I am a vegetarian, so I could change the ground beef for something like Lynda McCartney "mince" (it even is beef coloured! But a soy based veg)

I LOVE egg plant - but all I know how to do with them is cut, salt, then rinse and dry and egg and breadcrumb them. So this is an awesome recipe. Thank you!

Yes! You can do it with soy based mince- or you can fill them with tomato sauce (with cooked onions and a little garlic) and that's a different dish, called "Imam baildi". Its origin is from Turkey.This is how they look like:
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