Hello my little chefs and welcome to my channel! Today, I’m going to show you a very awesome, Greek traditional recipe called papoutsakia! It’s actually eggplants stuffed with an amazing filling and topped with a bechamel sauce that nobody can resist! I will show you the best way to make them! First of all, I have to tell you that in one hour, our dish will be ready! Please follow my instructions! We need a baking pan and we need the eggplants. Cut them in half like this, and it’s time to marinate them! And guess with what… salt, pepper, extra virgin Greek olive oil, and of course thyme. Before we marinate them, score them, zig zag like this so they will cook easier and the marinade will go deeper. Now, it’s time for extra virgin Greek olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of thyme. The only ingredients you need to make nice and tender eggplants! Skin on top and cook them to 200 C set to fan, for 30 to 40 minutes until they will become tender. Now, my aubergines are in the oven and let’s carry on with the stuffing. I need a non-stick pan on the heat and let it become extremely hot. Now, it’s time for garlic and onion. Chop them into big pieces, the onion like this, then thinly slice the garlic. Now, put into the pan, add a bit of olive oil, the sugar, and the spices, cinnamon and clove. Let them caramelize all together, become brown and nice. So, when the onions are caramelized, add the thyme, salt and pepper… and add a lot because we need the stuffing to be a little bit salty. And pepper, also we need it to be a little bit spicy. And it’s time for the meat. Ground beef inside the pot and let the meat caramelize too, two to three minutes. Now, make sure that the meat has this lovely color. When you see this lovely color, deglaze the pan with some red wine, let it evaporate for 20 seconds, and add the tomato. Now, I want you to be very patient and cook the stuffing for at least 10 to 15 minutes, until there is no water inside. So, the eggplants are ready! Put them in a nice tray, like this, and look at this beauty! Now, make a little space in the middle with a spoon because we need some space to put the stuffing. And now, for the stuffing, we add the cheese and we add a lot a lot of herbs… we need some parsley, of course some mint, fresh mint, and of course some thyme. Perfect! Put it in, and all the herbs! Oh, it smells so nice! You have all this freshness from the herbs, you have all this spiciness from the spices, you have an absolutely amazing and very very unique filling. Now, put it on top like this, and stuff the aubergines. This is actually a very characteristic dish, Greek dish, and we love it because we make papoutsakia during summer, because the eggplants are so fresh. Now, it’s time to glaze them. You have two choices. First choice, just some grated cheese and inside the oven. But I will go with the bechamel sauce. A pot on heat, add the butter, let it melt. Add the flour, whisk… perfect! And now, slowly slowly, add the milk in five batches. Whisk. When the mixture is completely smooth, then you add the next batch. And keep the same way. And the last batch is inside. And now, continue stirring until you see the first bubble come up at the bechamel sauce. When I see bubbles, the bechamel sauce is ready! Now, add the rest of the ingredients, a little bit of nutmeg… I love the smell of the nutmeg! Pepper, salt, olive oil, just kidding… of course we are not adding any olive oil inside the bechamel sauce! The cheese and two egg yolks inside, whisk and… glaze! Oh my God! Look at this dish! So Greek, so fresh, so nice, and everybody will love it! And it’s something unique, something not usual, very easy to make! Inside the oven, 200 C set to fan until it becomes golden and nice. And then, we will serve it! And my papoutsakia are ready! Just to know… papoutsakia means shoes in Greece! That’s why we call them like this. And... look at this! All this loveliness, all this freshness in this dish! Absolutely gorgeous! A little bit of parsley on top, a little bit of extra virgin Greek olive oil, and a little bit of happiness! Happiness is the key ingredient for this recipe! Please subscribe to my channel, please make comments underneath the video, and please share this amazing, fresh, Greek recipe with your friends! See you next time, bye bye! Yia sas! I will start trying my dish…
