YIELD:
serves 6-8
ACTIVE TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the meat
- 1 pound of quality stewing beef cut in pieces
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1/2 can of tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste, dissolved into a teacup of water
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 glass of red wine
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1teaspoon cloves
- a pinch of sugar
- salt and freshly ground pepper
For the eggplants
- 2-3 big eggplants
- olive oil
- cheese and tomatoes to serve
Instructions
For the meat
- In a large pot put the meat and add lots of water. Boil the meat until it is tender for about 1 hour. If needed add more water.
- Cut the meat in small squares.
- Heat a large, deep pot to high heat. Put the onion and the garlic in it.
- Sauté them for 3 minutes, until softened. Pour in the red wine, and cook for 4 more minutes. Add the tomato sauce, the tomato paste, the cinnamon stick, the cloves, the bay leaf, the oregano, the thyme, a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper.
- As soon as the sauce comes to the boil, add the beef and 1 cup of water and cook for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- When done, put it aside to cool.
For the eggplants
- Slice the eggplants and fry them in hot oil. Do not cook more than 3-4 slices per batch, or the oil temperature will drop. Careful, it may splatter a bit, especially during the first minute or so of cooking. Let the slices fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
- Drain them on a drying rack or paper towel.
For the oven
- Preheat the oven to 38oF.
- Take two slices of eggplant and make a cross. In the middle, put a square of the beef and then close like an envelope.
- Add a slice of tomato, and some cheese and on top place a toothpick.
- In a baking pan, drizzle some olive oil.
- Place the eggplant envelopes, and add the tomato sauce from the beef.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes.
ed.