This recipe is from a very thick cookbook called Culina Mundi that my dad found at a surplus liquidation store. Culina Mundi is a culinary adventure with more than 500 recipes from 60 famous chefs, which are all documented with fabulous photographs. This is one of those cookbooks that lives on the kitchen counter and you can’t resist flipping through it every time you are in the kitchen.
We made this Macedonian recipe by Konstantinos and Chrysanti Stamkopoulos for a small gathering of good friends last night and we all loved it. We served it as the appetizer before a light main course and after delicious oysters on the half shell from Carr’s Lobster Pound in Stanley Bridge, PEI.
Notes:
Eggplants are also known as aubergines in some places. I used crumbled Melba toast instead of breadcrumbs which seemed to work fine. I also added the parsley to the feta and garlic mixture because I misread the directions. I found they didn’t brown much in the oven, which could have been because I used Melba toast, but you might want to broil (grill) them a bit at the end.
Eggplant au Gratin with Feta
Preparation time 15 minutes. Cooking time 15 minutes. Serves 6.3 large eggplants
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch parsley
6 tbsp breadcrumbs
300g/11 oz feta
salt
pepper
7 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp vinegar
1. Prick the eggplant skins with a fork. Put them on a broiling pan and broil or grill for 15 minutes. Chop the parsley. Peel the garlic and chop it.
2. Put the bread crumbs, crumbled feta and chopped garlic into a bowl. Using your hands, toss until everything is finely crumbled.
3. When the eggplants are cooked, cut each in half. Break the flesh into pieces using the tip of a knife.
4. If desired, add salt and pepper to the eggplant. Sprinkle each eggplant half liberally with several dashes of olive oil, moving the bottle so as to distribute the oil evenly.
5. Place the eggplant halves on a flat baking dish. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and fill them with the feta mixture.
6. Bake the eggplant haves in the oven at 200°C/390°F for 10 minutes. When they are browned, remove from the oven and pour the vinegar and 3 tsp olive oil over the top.
Serve hot.
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