This is my mum’s recipe for eggplant balls, I never knew how to make good meatballs as my mum, the consistency of the dough is not never the same but they remember me about home, family and so I often prepare them. They are simple but delicious. In the post 19 (this month) I gave a version without meat and fried, these are baked and there is meat in the dough.
Ingredients: (about 20 balls , preparation 40/50 min.)
1 eggplant (400/500 g)
200 g ground beef
100 g bread crumbs (use fresh bread crumbs and freshly grate your cheese instead of using the canned variety it does make a difference.)
a few drop lemon
100 g grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
chopped fresh basil or parsley
1 clove of garlic
salt
(400 g cans tomatoes or tomato cooking sauce and oil for cooking)
Cut the eggplant into cubes and boil it (put it in a bowl with water and salt before to boil). When the eggplant are cooked put it in a pan a tablespoon of olive oil and a clove of crushed garlic and let it cook at high heat for a few minutes so to dry the excess water.
Let cool and pour into a bowl, add the ground beef, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, egg. basil, drop of lemon. Mix the ingredients well. Divide the mixture into approximately 20 round balls and put them into an ovenproof dish with the tomato sauce and bake in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes.
(You can put more tomato sauce and you can use it to season pasta)
Preheat oven to 200 C.
That’s it … easy, fast and tasty.
