This is actually a form of distraction from chocolate...
Not this dish, per se, but posting it here. Which is passing some of the time before I can rescue my box of Troffel Chocolates from their hiding place after the children have gone to bed. More on that later, as you want to know how to cook delicious stuffed aubergines, not how to eat chocolate truffles!
Aubergines get a bad press sometimes, because they are guilty of being the type of vegetable which can soak up a lot of oil if you let them. Not that all oils are bad, but certain things are best in moderation.
That's not a problem with this Spanish dish, because the aubergines are partially steamed first, to tenderise them before finishing off the cooking process.
Steaming aubergines can give meltingly tender results, when you cook them all the way through, and I have a couple in the fridge waiting to be experimented upon to see whether I can do this to make 'fish fragrant' aubergines, a popular Sichuan dish. But I digress, you're after these juicy-looking cheese topped aubergines, so here is my stuffed aubergines recipe...
Berenjenas Rellenas de Carne (Aubergines stuffed with meat)
Serves four as a main meal with side dishes (or use really small aubergines to serve this dish as tapas), 244 calories per serving as a main.
Aubergines are popular in the Balearic Islands, and in this dish they are steamed in a pan with a little water before being stuffed, which means that unlike in many aubergine dishes, they do not soak up oil like sponges, and the flesh and the skin come out meltingly tender. However eating stuffed aubergines with cheese on the top feels incredibly decadent, and you’d never believe they were under 250 calories, when you taste them!
