Eggplant Pie

Another family recipe, this one... My mother-in-law used to make this beautiful and tasty dish and she excelled at it. It was her secret recipe and we always asked her to make this whenever she would gather the whole family together for her traditional Sunday lunches. Our extended family members are living abroad now. This recipe is a surprise for them. I am pretty sure they will have a case of nostalgia. Maybe they can try to make it as well. Who knows?

Charring eggplants has always been a tedious job. Cooking them one by one on an open fire and then peeling the burned skin quickly, before the tender inside darkens in colour...Happily, nowadays I am able to find canned charred eggplant in supermarkets. Even though I go with the traditional way of cooking it from scratch, you can easily buy it ready-made. I tried it this time and it turned out to be quite a success. Slices disappeared in no time and the whole pie was finished in minutes. I think you?ll like it if you try it!

Ingredients:

• 1 kg eggplant charred eggplant (
• 500 gr minced beef
• 2 tea glasses of water (Turkish tea glass)
• 1 tea glass of beef stock  (150 ml)
• 1 tea glass of sunflower oil
• 1 tea glass of melted butter
• 1 egg yolk (to brush over the top)
• salt
• black pepper
• 450 gr flour

How to:

Wash the eggplant, char. Peel and put in a water-lemon juice mix. When cool, drain well and squeeze all water. If you buy the ready-made ones, drain and leave in a sieve so all excess juices will drain. They must be dry.

Sautee the minced beef with 2 glasses of water, pressing with a spoon continuously. Take a glass of the juices (the stock) in a deep dish. When the beef is completely dry and all the juices are gone, take off the heat. Leave it to cool.

Process the cooked minced beef with the eggplant in a food processor. Make sure it doesn?t get soggy. You can actually do this with a fork, manually but it takes too much time. If your kitchen aid has a meat grinder, this would work too. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Leave aside.

Take the stock you put in a deep dish. Add a glass of sunflower oil and glass of melted butter. Mix well. Slowly add the flour and a pinch of salt. You should have a soft dough. Divide the dough in half.Butter a 22 cm round oven-proof dish. Gently spread the first half of the dough into the dish using your hand. Spread the beef-eggplant mixture onto the dough, making sure it?s evenly covered..Rollthe second dough with a roller, firmly seal the top and the bottom. Brush over the top with egg yolk. Bake in a 160°C oven until golden. Serve warm.

 

Bon Appetite!

 

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