Papoutsakia is a food based on the eggplant and it’s really tasty. There are different ways of cooking this food but the most common is the eggplant to consist meat. The truth is that you need really time and effort to cook “papoutsakia” but it is worth it. If you have time and especially on the weekends, don’t hesitate to try to cook it!
Ingredients for the eggplants and ground meat:
4-5 eggplants
½ tea cup of olive oil or 3 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons thyme
Salt
Pepper
1 clove of garlic
One and a half onion
50g gruyere cheese, grated
250g ground beef
40g red wine
400g canned tomatoes
1 bunch parsley
1 tablespoon mint
Method for the ground meat mixture:
Place a pan over high heat. Add 1 and a half tablespoon of olive oil and let it get very hot
Cut the onion and the garlic and add them to the pan
Add thyme, salt, pepper and cloves
Mix them for 5 minutes
Then add the ground meat and mix it for 2-3 minutes
Add the wine and wait until the alcohol evaporates
Add 2 tomatoes and wait for 15 minutes
Remove it from the heat and wait until its cold
Add the gruyere, parsley, thyme and mint
Mix them and fill the eggplants with a spoon
Method for the eggplants:
Preheat oven to 200C
Cut the eggplants in half & remove the stems
Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme. Spread them over the surface of the eggplants with your hands
Line a baking pan with parchment paper and add eggplants cut side down
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until they soften
When they are ready, remove them from oven and transfer them to an oven proof baking dish, skin side down
Press down on the flesh to create an “indentation” to add the ground meat filling
Final step:
When the eggplants and the ground meat are ready, put the ground meat in the eggplants
Then add the béchamel over the ground meat and the eggplants
Put them in the oven
Wait for 30-40 minutes until the béchamel is golden
It would be easier for you to see this video of a greek chef, Akis Petretzikis who shows how to cook this food!
Comments