Vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes grow in abundance in the summer, and an easy way to create delicious meals with these vegetables is to stuff them with a savory filling.
There are many delicious recipes for eggplant stuffed with lamb from the Mediterranean region, and this recipe is especially easy to prepare because the lamb is baked with the eggplant in the oven. This dish makes a great meal served with a Greek salad or pita bread and tzatziki, but if you were in the mood to create a feast you could consider stuffing some peppers and baking them at the same time.
The Simple Steps for Baking Eggplant Stuffed with Lamb
In some recipes for baked eggplant stuffed with lamb the eggplant is first halved lengthwise and baked until the flesh has softened. Once soft the flesh is scooped out and mixed with cooked ground lamb and spices and stuffed back into the eggplant and then baked until heated through.
In this recipe the eggplant is cut into slices; however, it’s not cut all the way through. Then the ground lamb is combined with the seasoning and formed into patties and the patties are stuffed in between the eggplant slices. Once stuffed the eggplant goes into the oven to be baked.
A large eggplant can take an hour or more to bake until soft so for this recipe look for smallish eggplants that are on the narrow side. Ideally each eggplant should easily hold 4 - 5 lamb patties when sliced.
To prevent the eggplant from fanning out too much a metal skewer can be inserted through the eggplant to hold the patties in place as the eggplant bakes down.
Do Foods Need to Be Covered When Baked in Convection?
There are several reasons why some recipes recommend covering food that is being baked.
Typically we cover casseroles when baking them to trap moisture in the food to assist with the cooking and prevent the food from drying out.
Even when baking a casserole in Convection covering the food during the initial baking time is recommended as the “steam” created by covering the food ensures the food will be cooked through.
In this instance the eggplant and lamb are cooked uncovered allowing the circulating heat of Convection to evenly penetrate into the food. Key to ensuring the food benefits from the circulating heat is to bake the stuffed eggplant on a shallow rimmed baking tray.
This is another simple delicious recipe from the Mediterranean that is easy to prepare, and you may find that you will have more lamb than you need to create the patties to stuff the eggplant.
I did have extra patties which I froze and was able to use for another meal. Because they are small they defrost quickly and are delicious cooked in a skillet and served with sauté of zucchini, onions, garlic and garbanzo beans.
It’s hard not to love crispy fried chicken and dealing with frying in hot oil and storing and discarding the oil is no fun, but in my next post I will show you how to cook amazing oven fried chicken without the oil.
Larissa, Your Convection Enthusiast
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