Stuffed Aubergine

Summer is out in the Northern hemisphere, bright purple aubergines are popping up everywhere from supermarkets to farmer's markets and roadside stalls. After three batches of ratatouille however, I started getting sick and bored of it...and decided to make fancy gourmet burgers instead. But when I looked at the burger mince bowl, another idea popped into my head and decided to improvise instead by mixing the mince and the eggplant...

Ingredients

Aubergine

Minced beef

Sundried tomato - usually found in supermarket jars or from an Italian or similarly-specialised delicatessen

Torn fresh basil and any herbs you can lay your hands on

Red pepper, finely diced

Feta cheese, crumbled

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 200deg. Wash the aubergine and slice in half. Carve out the flesh with the tip of a knife, leaving a small border. Scoop out the flesh with fingers or a teaspoon. It should look like a "boat". Grease an ovenproof dish with some olive oil and brush the insides and outsides of the aubergine with oil.

2. Prepare the mince: mix all the rest of the ingredients, season and add a "binder" to hold everything together. I used an egg but the mixture was too wet and added some cornflour. Two eggs would've made the mixture too eggy (or that's what I thought it would taste like!)

3. Stuff the aubergine halves using a spoon. Drizzle some extra oil on top and bake for 25-30 minutes.

In it goes...

o

 ...out it comes.

To check if the meat is cooked, using two spoons, cradle the eggplant and gently tip it to one side and the juices from the meat should run clearly.

Next time, you can also make proper burgers, griddle aubergine slices, add some lettuce and tomato slices, the sauce of your choice (mayo, mustard, ketchup, tabasco, chili..whatever you fancy!) and turn it onto a Mediterranean-style burger! Bon appetit!

And remember...Life is short, Eat!