Recipe For Papoutsakia – Greek Stuffed Eggplant

Now, when you think of eggplants and Greece, you’re thinking of moussaka, right?

Did you know though, that one of  the most famous dishes of Greece, moussaka, has a close relation called “Papoutsakia”, which in English translates to “little shoes”?

“Papoutsakia” are called “little shoes” because, yes, you guessed it, they resemble little shoes!

Papoutsakia are eggplants which have been cut in half, length-ways, then boiled, roasted or fried, before being filled with a tomato-based minced-meat sauce (there are various version of the filling) and topped off with creamy béchamel sauce.

Ingredients

Makes 8 pieces

4 large eggplants, (about 1. 5 kilos)

300 – 400 ml olive oil for frying

Meat Sauce

500g minced beef

2 large onions, finely chopped (for ease, use a food processor)

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 Carton concentrated tomato juice 500gr

½ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp dried basil

75 ml olive oil

Béchamel sauce

120 g plain flour

125 g butter or margarine

2 eggs

600 ml milk

½ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp ground nutmeg

100 g grated Kefalotiri cheese, or Parmesan

Method

Heat oven to 180 – 200 degrees C

1. Prepare Eggplant

Heat oven to 200 degrees C

Cut the eggplants in half length-ways, (Don’t peel) and sprinkle generously with salt.

Leave for about 30 minutes, until they “sweat”, this will remove any bitterness.

2. Prepare Meat Sauce

While the salt is doing its thing with the eggplants, make a start with the meat sauce, heat 50 ml of olive oil in a pan, sauté the chopped onion and garlic, for about 5 minutes.

Add the minced beef and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, add the concentrated  tomato juice, salt, pepper and dried basil, leave to simmer for about 30 to minutes, the sauce needs to be quite thick, so as to stay on the surface of the eggplants, and not slide off.

3. Prepare Béchamel Sauce

Melt the butter, or margarine, in a pan, over a low heat, remove pan from heat and add flour, a little at a time, mixing, until the mixture falls away from the sides of the pan, and has formed a ball.

Slowly add the milk, a little at a time, stirring; a whisk is perfect here, to avoid lumps forming.

Add salt, pepper and ground nutmeg.

Return the pan to the heat, and, mixing continuously, bring to the boil.

As soon as the béchamel is boiling, remove from heat, let cool slightly, 10 minutes or so, add egg, mix well and add grated cheese, the béchamel needs to be rather thick, to sit on top of the meat sauce.

4. Putting it all together!

Place the fried eggplants into a 35 x 30 cm rectangular baking tin, or any ovenproof dish that will hold all 8 eggplant halves.

With the back of a spoon, press down on the eggplants, making a small hollow.

The frying has softened the eggplants and it’s easy to make hollows with the back of a spoon.

Place about one heaped tbsp of meat sauce into each hollow.

Spread a thick layer of béchamel, over the meat sauce. (1- 2 tbl )

Bake in the oven for about 30 – 40 minutes at 180 – 200 degrees C until béchamel is golden brown.