Serves 6
Essentially Greek Shepherd’s Pie, this is not only is this stupid good, but takes me back years ago to a Greek restaurant in Vancouver where I’d have it. It’s perfect shitty weather food. Bring on the rain.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 large globe eggplants
- Olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, diced small
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 pounds ground lamb
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley
- Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups milk, warmed
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350
- Slice eggplants to get 12 – ¼ inch slices, put them on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt & pepper and bake 20-25 minutes or until nicely softened
- While the eggplant cooks, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium in a large pan and put in onions and garlic – cook until softened, about 10 minutes
- Add lamb and cook until no longer pink – pour off any fat that accumulates
- Stir in tomato sauce, cinnamon and parsley - combine well and turn off heat
- Melt butter in a pot over medium heat, then add flour and stir well until it makes a thick smooth paste – 3-4 minutes
- Add the warm milk one cup at a time and whisk continuously until smooth
- Bring to a boil, season with nutmeg, salt & pepper and cook for 2-4 minutes or until thickened
- In a buttered 9x12 baking dishing, put a layer of eggplant, the ground lamb mixture, rest of the eggplant and then the white sauce
- Smooth sauce over the top and scatter wit breadcrumbs
- Bake about 45 minutes or until getting golden brown, let cool a few minutes and serve