Recipe: Baked Eggplants with Beef Ragu
Baked Eggplants with Beef and Borlotti Bean Ragu
Serves 4
This is a great way to use up leftover Bolognese sauce, extending it with fresh borloltti beans and using it as a stuffing for eggplants topped with mozzarella. I have given a complete recipe for Bolognese sauce below, but if you ore using leftovers about 2 cups would be enough.
Ingredients
• 4 small eggplants
• l 00ml olive oil
• 500gm beef mince
• 200gm pancetta, diced or minced
• l clove garlic
• l onion, diced
• l carrot, peeled and diced
• l stick celery, diced
• l bay leaf
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• l 25ml red wine
• 125ml milk
• 2 cups cooked borlotti beans
• 200gm mozzarella, grated
• salt and pepper
Method
Saute the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, bay leaf and pancetta in a small amount of the olive oil until soft and lightly coloured.
Add the beef mince and fry until lightly browned. Add the tomato paste and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the red wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the milk and reduce the heat to very low. Add the borlotti beans, season with salt and pepper and simmer for l hour.
Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise leaving the stems on. Make 3 cuts lengthwise down the flesh of each half. Brush all over with the remaining oil and place cut side down on a roasting tray. Bake the eggplants in a preheated l 90°C oven for 25-30 minutes or until soft when pressed. Arrange the eggplant halves in a baking dish, cut side up so they are all close together.
Fill each half with a generous amount of the ragu and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake at l 90°C for 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden.
Serve warm with a simple green salad.