Baked Eggplants with Meat Filling and Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 eggplants (about 250 g each)
• Salt
• 1 onion
• 500 g tomatoes
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 0.5 bunch Parsley
• 6 sage leaves
• 6 tbsp Olive oil
• 400 g ground beef
• 1 tbsp flour
• 125 ml milk
• Pepper (freshly ground)
• 1 egg
• 4 Tbsp breadcrumbs
• 40 g Butter

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash the eggplants, pat dry and remove the stem ends. Slice them lengthwise in half. Score the flesh crosswise leaving a 1 cm border, salt heavily and let sit for 30 minutes, then rinse off the salt under cold water. Scoop out the flesh, cut into small pieces while keeping a small rim. Place the eggplant halves in a greased baking dish.

2. 2.

   Peel and finely chop the onion. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water, shock them, peel, core and dice. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Wash, dry shake and finely chop parsley and sage.

3. 3.

   Preheat the oven to 200°C (392°F) with upper and lower heat.

4. 4.

   Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a pan and sauté the onion until translucent, add the ground beef and brown it crumbly, then dust with flour, stir in milk and let everything reduce slightly. Add the eggplant flesh, season with salt, pepper and half of the herbs, simmer for a few minutes while stirring. Remove from heat, let cool slightly and whisk in the egg. Spoon the meat filling into the eggplants, sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and dot with butter pieces. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes.

5. 5.

   Sauté the garlic in the remaining oil until golden yellow (do not brown it or it will taste bitter). Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and reduce a bit. Spread the sauce over the eggplants 10 minutes before the end of baking time. Serve sprinkled with the remaining herbs.