Stuffed Eggplant with Lamb and Pine Nuts
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 557kcal
This stuffed eggplant with ground lamb and Middle Eastern spices is deceptively easy. Just brown the meat and let the oven do the rest!
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Ingredients
- 2-3 medium eggplants halved lenghtwise
- 1 pound ground lamb
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 7 tablespoon pine nuts
- ½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 teaspoon sugar
- ⅔ cup water
- 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 1 ½ tablespoon cumin
- 1 ½ tablespoon sweet paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Place the eggplant halves in a 9x13 baking dish. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over the flesh of each eggplant. Season them with about a teaspoon of kosher salt and sprinkle with cracked black pepper. Roast for 20 - 40 minutes, until the flesh and edges just begin to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
- Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.
- While the eggplants are roasting, you can begin cooking the other elements of the dish. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Mix cumin, paprika, and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Add half the spice mixture to the oil heating in the pan. Whisk together until it forms a paste.
- Add onions and stir until coated with the oil and spices. Cook onions until softened and translucent, but not browned.
- Add the lamb, parsley, pine nuts, tomato paste, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of sugar, and some black pepper. Stir to combine and cook until lamb is fully cooked and no pink remains.
- Combine remaining spice mix with water, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and the cinnamon sticks. Mix well. Pour mixture into the bottom of the roasting pan.
- Spoon lamb mixture on top of each eggplant. Cover dish with aluminum foil, return to the oven, and roast for 90 minutes. At 30 minutes and 60 minutes, remove from the oven and baste eggplants with pan sauce, cover with foil and return to the oven. Add a little more water if the sauce starts to dry out.
- Serve warm (not hot) or at room temperature, topped with a bit of fresh parsley.
Notes
- Be sure the eggplants are snug in the baking dish. They will shrink as they cook, so don't be afraid to squish them together.
- If the sauce seems to be drying up during baking, add more water.
- This recipe is adapted from the cookbook Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. If you like Middle Eastern food, I highly recommend it. It's got a lot of amazing recipes and you'll learn a bit about the city and its people as well.
- You'll need a large, deep, non-stick skillet for this recipe and a 9 x 13 baking dish. You can't go wrong with Pyrex glass baking dishes for things like this.
Nutrition
Calories: 557kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 149mg | Potassium: 1159mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 2128IU | Vitamin C: 21mg | Calcium: 143mg | Iron: 7mg