"Papoutsakia" - Baked aubergines stuffed with ground meat and topped with bechamel sauce

A classic and very popular dish which will remind you of the moussakas but it is not! The dish is called "melitzanes (aubergines) papoutsakia (little shoes)" and the reason is because after they are baked they look like little shoes... funny name for a dish isn't it? But I'm telling you, it's delicious. Normally, in the good old days, they used to fry the aubergines before adding the filling. Nowadays a lot of people in their effort to eat lighter and healthier food they prefer to bake the aubergines so to keep calories and cholesterol under control without missing any of the taste dishes like this can offer.... It is up to you how you will prepare the aubergines but be sure that both ways will give an excellent taste

Ingredient (for 4-6 people):
6-8 medium aubergines
700gr. of ground beef
4 tbsp of olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, grated
2 bay leaves
1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tin of plum tomatoes, pureéd (or Pomodoro)

1/2 a cup dry white (or red) wine

1 tsp of sugar

salt

pepper

1 tsp of ground allspice

1/2 tsp of ground cinammon

1/2 tsp of ground cloves

3 tbsp of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

For the bechamel sauce (enough for the specific recipe):

225gr. of butter

125gr. of all-purpose flour

1-1Lt 200ml of warm milk (no lighter than 2% fat)

2 eggs, beaten

100gr. of Greek Kefalotyri cheese, grated (or parmesan or pecorino)

salt (if needed)

good pinch of ground nutmeg

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Wash and dry the eggplants, trim off the stems and cut in half, lengthwise.

With a small spoon, scoop out their flesh carefully so as not to break the skins, starting at the centre with the seeds and then work around. Discard the seeds, if any, and reserve half of the flesh you'll gather and chop it.

Drizzle the eggplant halves with olive oil and lightly sprinkle with salt. Place them in an oven pan and bake them - in the middle rack of the oven- for 30-40 minutes or until firm. Take them out of the oven and let them remain in the oven pan to cool.

Set the oven temperature down to 190°C.

In a heavy sauce pan, put the olive oil in medium heat and sauté the onions, the garlic, the bay leaves and a bit of salt for about 10 minutes, until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the eggplant flesh and sauté for another 5 minutes.

Stir in the ground beef and sauté until browned while stirring with a wooden spatula to break the meat down. Add the wine, the tomato sauce, the sugar, the cinammon, the allspice, the cloves, the parsley and simmer for about 30-45 minutes, until you have a nice thick sauce. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.

For the bechamel sauce, put the butter in a sauce pan to melt in medium heat. Add the flour, stirring quickly with a wooden spoon so to prevent forming lumps. Stir and cook the flour mixture until it gets a golden colour.

Pour in the warm milk while stirring at the same time and then add a bit of salt. You keep stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. When the sauce is ready, turn off the heat and take the sauce pan away. Add the grated cheese and then the beaten eggs slowly, while you keep stirring vigorously so the eggs won't cook!!
Finally add the nutmeg, stir and set the sauce aside.

As you have the aubergines layed in the oven pan, sprinkle each one with a bit of cheese. Then start filling with the meat sauce, 1-2 tbsp for each aubergine cavity, until the sauce is finished. Continue spooning on the top with bechamel sauce, again until all the sauce is finished.

Sprinkle on top of each aubergine with cheese and bake for about 30 minutes until the tops get a nice golden brown colour.