AUBERGINE SHOES PAPOUTSAKIA

                                                                                                               

Ingredients for four people:

8 aubergines

 

½ kg minced beef

2 onions, peeled and grated

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

1 cinnamon stick

2 tbsp tomato puree

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Bechamel sauce

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

1 bay leaf

2 cups or more hot milk

1 tsp grated nutmeg

2 eggs, whipped

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated cheese.

 

 

Cut the aubergines in two and empty half the flesh with a spoon. Sauté the aubergine flesh, minced beef, onions, garlic in olive oil, and add the cinnamon stick and salt and pepper to taste cover with water and simmer until cooked, discard the cinnamon stick and spoon back into the aubergine shells. 

 

Bechamel sauce:

Melt the butter and stir in the flour and bay leaf and cook gently until slightly coloured.  Pour in the hot milk, grated nutmeg and simmer gently until the sauce bubbles and thickens. Add the whipped eggs lower the heat and simmer gently.   Discard the bay leaf and cover the aubergine shells lavishly with bechamel, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in an oven preheated to 180 C (350 F) until puffed and golden.