Aubergines à l’Égyptienne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy skillet
• •Shallow 3-quart gratin dish
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Small sharp knife and sturdy spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Cisel the aubergines

   Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C) with a rack in the middle. Cut the aubergines lengthwise and trim any ragged edges around the cut faces without thinning the skins. Leaving a ¼-inch (6 mm) border, make close diagonal cuts through two-thirds of the flesh, turn each half, and repeat in the other direction. Keep the knife short of the skin. The cisel lets the oil and heat reach the center without destroying the shell.

   Use the tip of a small knife and shallow strokes. Deep cuts make scooping easier for ten seconds and filling the torn shell harder for the rest of the evening.
2. 2

   Cook the mutton

   Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped mutton with ¼ teaspoon of the salt and half the pepper. Cook for 7 to 9 minutes, stirring and separating the pieces, until no raw color remains and the moisture has evaporated. Let a few edges brown, but keep the meat tender; it still has an oven finish ahead. Transfer it to a bowl and wipe away any scorched fragments, leaving the clean browned film in the pan.

3. 3

   Fry the aubergines

   Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet over medium heat. Season the aubergine flesh with ½ teaspoon salt, then lay the halves cut-side down without crowding. Fry in batches if necessary for 6 to 8 minutes, pressing lightly at first so the scored flesh meets the oil. Turn and cook on the skin side for 3 to 4 minutes, until the flesh yields readily to a small knife but the shells remain intact. If the cut faces darken before the centers soften, lower the heat and cover the pan for 2 minutes; the trapped moisture will finish the centers without burning the surface. Drain the halves cut-side down for 5 minutes.

4. 4

   Measure the filling

   Scoop the warm pulp into a bowl, leaving a ¼-inch (6 mm) lining of flesh against each skin for strength. If one shell tears, set the damaged side against the wall of the gratin dish or another shell. Ça se rattrape. Chop the drained pulp, weigh it, then measure out exactly the same weight of cooked mutton. If you have more of either component, reserve the excess; equal quantities are the book’s governing proportion, and they keep the filling neither meaty nor watery.

5. 5

   Soften the onion

   Return the skillet to medium-low heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the onion and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring often, until translucent and tender without browning. Take the pan off the heat and fold in the chopped pulp and its equal weight of cooked mutton. Add the remaining pepper and enough of the remaining salt to make the filling taste complete. Mix lightly. Pressing it into a paste would sacrifice the separate texture of aubergine and chopped meat.

6. 6

   Fill and gratin

   Butter a shallow 3-quart gratin dish and arrange the shells snugly inside. Divide the filling among them, mounding it lightly without compacting it, then sprinkle 1 teaspoon olive oil across the tops. Apply the light oven finish from Gratins (No. 268): bake for 15 minutes, until the filling is hot and small bubbles appear around the edges. This gratin warms and settles the filling; it does not call for breadcrumbs, cheese, or a hard-browned crust.

7. 7

   Toss tomato roundels

   While the aubergines finish in the oven, wipe the skillet clean and heat the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the tomato roundels in one layer and toss them in the oil for 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until glossy and barely softened. Keep their shape. If a roundel begins to collapse, lift it immediately and lay its pieces together on the filling; the flavor is sound, and the parsley will hold the finish neatly.

8. 8

   Finish and serve

   Take the gratin dish from the oven and place 2 warm tomato roundels on each filled shell. Sprinkle evenly with the chopped parsley and serve directly from the buttered dish while the filling is soft and the edges still glisten. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Leftover roast mutton is exactly what the old kitchen expected. If using it, skip the mutton-cooking step and weigh it after chopping. Lean lamb can stand in when mutton is unavailable, but its flavor will be gentler, and there is no point pretending otherwise.
• •Choose straight-sided aubergines with taut skins and a little weight in the hand. Soft, heavily seeded fruit collapses during scooping; a firm aubergine gives tender pulp and a shell strong enough to reach the table.
• •The tomato roundels must remain whole, so use firm ripe plum or small slicing tomatoes. When field tomatoes are out of season, good greenhouse fruit is the honest answer; canned tomatoes cannot perform this particular finish.
• •No cheese and no breadcrumbs. This is a light gratin, a brief oven setting rather than a crust-building exercise. Those additions are pleasant elsewhere, but they turn this into another dish.

Advance Preparation

• •The mutton can be cooked, cooled, and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead. Leftover roast mutton may be chopped and measured directly.
• •The aubergines can be fried, emptied, filled, and arranged in the buttered dish up to 24 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate without the tomato topping. Let the dish stand at room temperature for 30 minutes, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the center reaches 165°F (74°C).
• •Cook the tomato roundels only while the filled aubergines are in the oven. Their fresh shape and oil-bright surface are the final contrast, and refrigeration makes them watery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 330g)