Roasted Eggplant and Lamb
I'm sure many of you might be wondering where in the world I came up with this combination?
Well, my inspiration of this recipe came from a Lamb burger recipe I found on our Samsung TV! Believe it or not, one of the apps built into the TV had dinner recipes on it, and they had a recipe for Lamb Burgers stuffed with Mozzarella cheese (looked SO good).
I couldn't remember the recipe when I was at the store, so when I got home, I couldn't make the Lamb burgers, so I decided to improvise!
This is the result. I call it an Eggplant and Lamb casserole.
Without a doubt, this was one of the most satisfying dishes I've made in a while - and it was on a whim that I decided to combine these ingredients, partly because I didn't have the right ingredients for the burgers AND I had an eggplant that if I didn't cook it, it would have gone bad... so, win-win!
Give it a try, you'll be so happy you did!
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 lb package of ground Lamb
- 1 tbsp of dried oregano use more or less depending how much you like
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped Rosemary
- 2-3 tbsp of dried parsley or if you have fresh USE FRESH!
- 2-3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- A squeeze of fresh lemon
- 1-2 cups of sauce I used the sauce that I made from my meatball recipe, if you don't have time, you can use a quick sauce made from a bottled marinara and some crushed tomatoes and spice/herbs it the way you like it (I like mine with oregano, fresh basil, etc.)
Instructions
- Slice the eggplant long-ways in about 1/4" slices. Place on cookie sheet and coat lightly with olive oil. Salt & pepper both sides of the eggplant, and put in a 450 deg F oven for about 15 minutes. You're looking to roast the eggplant, but not cook it to death. Flip the eggplant about 1/2 way thru the cooking time. If you notice that the eggplant is becoming too floppy, take it out, it's ready.
- Brown the lamb in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. When the meat is browned, add the fresh Rosemary, parsley, oregano, and cook a bit to release the flavors. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on the meat mixture and scoop out with a slotted spoon into a small bowl (this way you don't get all that fat in your dish).
- Once it has cooled a bit, add the Feta cheese to the meat mixture.
- Grab yourself a small casserole and butter the bottom.
- Start with a little of the sauce on the bottom, then put a single layer of the roasted eggplant, cut the eggplant if you need to so that you get an even layer.
- Put a layer of the Lamb mixture.
- Put some sauce.
- Put some of the roasted eggplant...
- You get the idea... keep making layers until the last layer is the eggplant, to cover the whole thing up.
- I put a little bit of parmesan cheese on top, and just a tiny bit of mozzarella cheese too...
- Put back in the 450 deg F oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the top is brown and the whole mixture is bubbly.
- You will be able to smell this all over the house!!
Notes
One word of caution: WAIT TILL IT COOLS OFF BEFORE EATING IT! You will surely burn the roof of your mouth otherwise!! Take it from me, I should have waited 🙂
Enjoy!
Enjoy!