Minced Meat Casserole with Eggplant and Tomatoes

Minced meat, eggplant and tomato casserole with aromatic sauce is a healthy lunch or dinner in the summer. It turns out very tasty, juicy, and satisfying.

Summary

Ingredients

• Eggplant – 600-700 g
• Minced meat (chicken thighs) – 700 g
• Tomatoes – 500 g
• Hard cheese – 150 g

For the béchamel sauce:

• Milk – 400 ml
• Flour – 1 tbsp
• Butter – 50 g
• Nutmeg – 1 pinch
• Ground black pepper – to taste
• Salt to taste
• Garlic – 2 cloves

Instructions

1. Cut the eggplants into longitudinal strips 0.7 cm thick. If the eggplants are bitter, salt them and leave for 20 minutes to let the juice flow. Then rinse the eggplants and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Salt the eggplants and fry in a little vegetable oil for 2 minutes on each side.

   

3. Remove skin from chicken thighs, remove bones. Skip chicken meat through a meat grinder. Or just take the ready-made minced meat. Season the minced meat with salt and pepper to taste.
4. For the sauce, fry the flour in butter (45 g) until a pleasant nutty flavor appears.
5. Pour in milk gradually, stirring the sauce constantly. Cook until thick. To check the readiness, run your finger over the surface of the scapula that was stirring the sauce – it should not converge. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, add nutmeg. Peel the garlic, finely grate and add to the sauce. Mix.
6. Grate cheese on a coarse grater. Cut the tomatoes into slices.
7. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease the form with butter, lay out a layer of eggplant (about a third). Distribute a third of the minced meat and a third of the tomatoes on top. Lightly salt the tomatoes.
8. Sprinkle with 1/4 of the cheese, pour over the sauce and repeat 2 more times. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
9. Bake eggplants with minced meat, tomatoes, and cheese at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

   

Bon Appetit!