Lamb papoutsakia

Lamb papoutsakia is a Greek dish that translates to "little shoes" in English. It typically consists of roasted eggplants stuffed with a spiced lamb mixture, topped with a rich bechamel sauce and baked until golden brown.

Lamb papoutsakia Credit: Kitti Gould

• serves

  4

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 2 eggplants
• ¼ cup olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
• salt and black pepper
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 250 g lamb mince, 20% fat
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp dried oregano
• handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped, plus extra to serve
• ¼ cup finely grated parmesan

Béchamel

• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 2 cups milk, warmed
• salt and black pepper
• pinch of ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C fan-forced. Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise, leaving the stems intact. Use a sharp knife, score the eggplant flesh and place cut-side up on a baking tray. Drizzle the eggplants with olive oil and season with salt. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until tops are deep golden and flesh is just softened but not falling apart.
2. Scoop out the eggplant pulp leaving a 1 cm border. Chop up the eggplant pulp and set aside.
3. To make the filling, in a large frying pan, cook the onion in a drizzle of olive oil for 10 minutes until soft and golden. Add garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Add lamb mince, tomatoes, spices, and oregano. Cook over medium- high heat, breaking up the meat until nicely browned and combined. Stir in the eggplant pulp. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
4. To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter and flour in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook for a few minutes, while constantly whisking, until the flour gets toasted and creamy. Whisk in the milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simmer, stirring for 10 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat.
5. Place the prepared eggplants on to the baking tray. Fill the eggplants with the meat sauce. Top with béchamel sauce and sprinkle a generous amount of parmesan cheese on top.
6. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until bechamel is golden.
7. Drizzle with olive oil and scatter with extra parsley, to serve.

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Lamb

Watch The Full Episode Here

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Watch The Full Episode Here

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