Stuffed Aubergines

STEP 1:

Preheat the oven to 180º.

While it is heating, we will wash the aubergines and cut them in half. We will make a few small cuts in the meat of the aubergine without breaking the skin.

We will put them on a baking tray with oil, salt, a bit of pepper and we will leave them until the meat is very soft.

STEP 2:

Once they are soft, we will remove them from the oven and let them cool a little since we want to remove the meat from the aubergine and it’s better if it’s warm.

So, when it doesn’t burn so much, we will remove the meat from the aubergine without breaking the skin and we will put it in another container.

We will put the skins in the same tray that we used before to heat them and we will leave them aside.

Next, we will make the stuff of the aubergines:

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STEP 3:

We will cut the onion and red pepper into small squares and peel the garlic.

I like to put it whole, but I have no other option since Laura cannot even see small pieces of garlic on the plate, she doesn’t like it. So I leave the garlic whole and then with the stew I crush it and you can’t see it. She’s happy and so am I, but you can cut it into pieces if you like.

STEP 4:

We will put the garlic and cayenne in a pot.

When the garlic has a bit of colour, we will add the onion and the red pepper, and we will lower the heat a little. We will also add a bit of salt to make the onion sweat. Regarding to lowering the heat, is because my grandmother has always said that slow cooked is the essence of cooking, so I will not be the one who will disagree with her.

Once both the onion and the pepper have taken color, we will add the minced meat and we will mix everything well.

STEP 5:

Next, we will add the spices to the meat, although it is according to your personal taste.

Personally, I love the touch of a little cumin without going overboard, a little curry, black pepper and paprika.

We will add a bit of salt, and to enhance the flavour, we will let the spices cook with the meat. Add the chopped aubergine meat and let it cook all together for about 30 minutes.

STEP 6 :

Finally, we will add the tomato sauce and let it cook for 20 more minutes.

After those 20m we will turn off the cook and let it rest, covering it. This way the stew will take on more flavour.

In fact, if you do it a day before and let it rest in the fridge until the next day, surely, you will leave me a lovely comment. Now let’s continue because I’m getting hungry.

Let’s make the bechamel:

STEP 7 :

We will boil milk in a saucepan and in another pan we will put the butter. Once the butter is melted, we will add the flour and stir it over a low heat so that the flour cooks.

It’s very important that we do not stop stirring and thus cook the flour well, since nobody likes to eat raw flour. Next, we will add the boiling milk and we will continue stirring like crazy so that it’s a perfect cream without lumps.

We will add salt, black pepper, grated cheese (the one you have at home, but I personally recommend the blue cheese) and we will let it melt and do some magic.

Important: do not add nutmeg because it would take away the cheese flavour and we do not want that.

We heat the oven to 180 degrees.

STEP 8 :

Finally, we will fill the skin of the aubergine with the fabulous meat stew as much as we can. We will cover it with the cheese bechamel, and we will put some more grated cheese on top.

We will put them in the oven to gratin and we will wait anxiously until the cheese on top is melted according to your taste.

I hope you like the recipe and if you want one in particular, do not hesitate to ask.

Let’s eat!

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Love,

Andrés