Eggplants are such a versatile ingredient, especially in oven-baked dishes. This particular recipe is a favourite of mine, and a surprisingly effortless recipe – just pop it all in the oven!
The Simple Ingredients:
You really don’t need much to make this gorgeous dish. Some garlic, seasoning and sun-dried tomato paste go a long way when making eggplant (aubergine) dishes.
I prefer to use chopped lamb shoulder, but you can use ribs, chops or anything else you like.
How to make the eggplant bake?
Preheat the oven to 200°C/392°F/Gas 6. Half peel each of the eggplants. You want to leave a strip unpeeled between each peeled section, goin down each one. Then, chop them up into cubes, no bigger than an inch in size.
Place the eggplants into a large mixing bowl. Place a flat dinner plate on top of the eggplants to weigh it down. Add 1 tsp of the salt and fill up with enough water that the eggplant is completely submerged underwater.
Without this weight, the eggplants will rise up and not be completely soaked in the water. Soaking the eggplant like this gets rid of the natural bitter taste of the eggplants. Let the eggplant stay like this for 10 minutes.
Drain the eggplant and place in a wide baking tray. Bake for 50 minutes, or until cooked and golden. Once the eggplant is cooked add the lamb, the chopped potatoes and the crushed garlic to the baking tray.
In a jug, mix the tomato paste, black pepper, cumin and remaining salt into the boiling water. Carefully pour this mixture over the contents of the tray evenly. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and place back in the oven to bake for 45 minutes to cook.
Take out of the oven and remove the foil. Cook without foil for 25 minutes, until the meat and potatoes are glazed. Enjoy!
Eggplant and Lamb Bake
Ingredients
- 4 eggplants / aubergine around 900 g
- 930 g chopped lamb shoulder
- 10 maris piper potatoes about 950 g chopped and peeled
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 heaped tbsp sun-dried tomato paste about 50 g
- 700 ml boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/392°F/Gas 6. Half peel the eggplants, leaving a strip unpeeled between each peeled section, down the eggplants. Chop them up into cubes, no bigger than an inch in size.
- Place eggplants into a large mixing bowl. Place a flat dinner plate on top of the eggplants to weigh it down. Add 1 tsp of the salt and fill up with enough water that the eggplant is completely submerged underwater. Let the eggplant stay like this for 10 minutes.
- Drain the eggplant and place in a wide baking tray. Bake for 50 minutes, or until cooked and golden. Once the eggplant is cooked add the lamb, the chopped potatoes and the crushed garlic to the baking tray.
- In a jug, mix the tomato paste, black pepper, cumin and remaining salt into the boiling water. Carefully pour this mixture over the contents of the tray evenly. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and place back in the oven to bake for 45 minutes to cook. Take out of the oven and remove the foil. Cook without foil for 25 minutes, until the meat and potatoes are glazed. Enjoy!