Eggplant Dish

This is a new favorite middle eastern dish of mine. "BaitnJan" meaning eggplant in arabic. I discovered it through my husband Rani, since it is his favorite dish. His mom makes it in a way I have never seen, and everyone does it different and I absolutely love the way she does it! I love this recipe, it reminds me of lasagna, but much easier and a lot healthier!

Ingredients:

2 eggplants

1 pound of ground lamb/beef

1 cup of pine nuts

1 can of crushed tomato

1 can of diced tomato

1 onion, chopped

Rice, make to how many servings you would like

2 tablespoons olive oil (for frying onions and meat)

2 tablespoons olive oil (for eggplant)

Salt & Pepper

2 tablespoons of allspice

Preheat oven to low broiler. Line 2 baking sheets with parchement paper.

Heat a large skillet. Toast the pine nuts until golden brown. Set aside on plate when finished. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in same pan and add the chopped onions. Sautee for about 10 minutes until cooked through.

While the onions are cooking, slice the eggplant into 1 inch slices. Spread the eggplant between both baking sheets. Spread the oil on both sides of the eggplant, and season both sides with salt and pepper. Place in oven for 10 minutes, then flip the eggplant and cook for another 10 minutes. In my oven, I could only fit one pan at a time to broil.

Remove onions and set asided on top of pine nuts on same plate. Add the last tablespoon to the same pan again, and add the meat. After 10 minutes, add the allspice, and salt and pepper to your taste. Add in the dish with the onions and pine nuts and mix well.

Now pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Place eggplant in 9x13 until bottom of dish is covered. Add the meat mixture on top of the eggplant in the 9x13. Then add the remaining eggplant on top of the mixture. Top with the 2 cans of tomatoes. Cover this with foil and bake in oven for 35-40 minutes until bubbling. Serve with rice. SAHTEIN!