Stuffed and stewed vegetables is a wonderful light meal that almost everyone likes, especially with light white meat. This is a wholesome food with a pleasant taste and aroma. For example, you can cook a turkey with eggplant, zucchini and even tomatoes. You can experiment with other ingredients and spices as you like.
The easiest option for such a dish is to take a few small eggplants, get the pulp out of them, mix it with ground turkey fillet, tomatoes and aromatic herbs with cheese, which will melt nicely when baked. In the process of cooking, juices will come out of vegetables, thanks to which the meat will not be dry.
The main secret is that eggplant contains a lot of moisture, so they perfectly complement the dry turkey fillet. At the same time, minced meat dishes are especially good. In addition to stuffing eggplant with meat, they can be stewed or baked in the oven in slices. The different cooking options for these products are listed below.
Stuffed Eggplant
As mentioned above, the best way to cook turkey with eggplant in the oven is to make stuffed vegetables in the form of boats. To do this, you will need:
- 3-4 small eggplant;
- 500 grams of minced meat from turkey fillet;
- one and a half glasses of Pecorino Romano cheese ;
- 1 medium tomato, cut into small pieces;
- 1 small onion, diced;
- 2 garlic cloves crushed;
- 1 egg, beaten;
- 4 tbsp. l olive oil;
- 2 tbsp. l tomato paste;
- 2 tsp dried basil;
- 1 tsp dried oregano;
- 1-2 tsp red chili flakes (optional);
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.
How to cook it?
Preheat the oven to 180 ° C in advance and prepare a rectangular baking dish. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and remove the flesh from them with a spoon. Try not to damage the vegetables so that they retain their shape. Finely chop the cut pulp. Place the eggplant halves in a baking dish.
Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, tomato, chopped eggplant pulp and fry until onion is soft and translucent, 6-8 minutes. Put the garlic and tomato paste and cook for another two minutes. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl to cool.
Add the remaining oil to the pan, and then put the minced turkey. Season with salt and pepper, basil, oregano and chili flakes (when used) and fry, kneading the lumps with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat.
Once the turkey has cooled slightly, add it to a bowl of vegetables along with a beaten egg and half a glass of grated cheese. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Place this mixture in the eggplant halves and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake the turkey with eggplant and tomatoes until the cheese melts and the “boats” are soft, about 50 minutes. Allow to cool for five minutes before serving.
Rice and Tomato Option
Fried eggplant is usually obtained so delicious and appetizing that you want to cook them more often. And if you cook them with rice, turkey and tomatoes, you get a great dish.
If you want to achieve a richer flavor, you will need to fry all the ingredients to get as much flavor as possible. Then the dish is cooked to the end in the oven. The taste and aromas of turkey with eggplant will be wonderful. So you will need:
- 2 large eggplants;
- a glass of boiled rice;
- 400 grams of minced turkey;
- 1 onion (finely chopped);
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- 1 tbsp. l tomato paste;
- 2 tbsp. l fresh parsley (minced in minced meat);
- 2 tomatoes (sliced into 12 slices);
- salt (to taste);
- saturated black pepper (to your taste);
- 6 tbsp. l olive oil (more as needed).
How to bake eggplant with rice and turkey?
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Rinse the eggplant, cut the stems and cut them in half along. Sprinkle generously with salt and set aside.
In a large non-stick skillet, heat two tablespoons of olive oil over high heat. Fry the eggplant halves, two at a time, on both sides, turning every thirty seconds. They should become a dark golden color.
Add more oil when you fry eggplant, as they tend to soak it. You need the pan to have a little oil at the bottom. If you see that it looks dry, you should add it.
Remove the eggplant from the pan and transfer to a baking sheet or baking dish. Cut some of the pulp out of them. Sprinkle some more salt on top of the eggplant.
In the same pan, fry the onions over low heat until golden brown. Add the minced meat and sauté for five to eight minutes. Put rice, parsley, tomato paste and mix well. Cook another minute, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, transfer mixture to bowl, and cool. Then you should put the turkey to the eggplant.
Spread the mixture of rice, minced meat and onions over the eggplant halves, gently pushing them to make it stick. Put on each "boat" three slices of tomato. Pour some olive oil.
Transfer vegetables to the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the eggplant and turkey from the oven, grease with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh parsley or coriander and serve.
Stuffed Eggplant with Zucchini Noodles
This is a great way to cook turkey fillet with eggplant. This dish is very aromatic and has a delicate taste.
For him you will need:
- 2 tbsp. l olive oil;
- 1 medium carrot, diced;
- 1 medium stalk of celery, diced;
- 1 medium onion, diced;
- 2 garlic cloves crushed;
- 500 grams of turkey fillet, in small pieces;
- 500 grams of chopped eggplant pulp;
- a third of a glass of water;
- 2 tbsp. l tomato paste;
- 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning;
- 1 bay leaf;
- salt to taste;
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes;
- 5 medium zucchini, about 200 grams each, peeled;
- fresh grated Parmesan cheese, optional.
How to cook turkey with eggplant and zucchini?
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add a tablespoon of oil to it. Put carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Fry, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens, for about three minutes.
Add the finely chopped turkey fillet and fry, stirring, until it is completely light, about four minutes. Transfer the mixture to a multicooker bowl or deep pan. Add the eggplant pulp, a third of a glass of water, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, a teaspoon of salt, chopped red pepper and bay leaf. Stir well. Cover and simmer for half an hour. If you are using a slow cooker, start the quenching mode.
Using a spiral cutter, a peeler, or large holes on a grater, chop the zucchini with long, thin noodles. Heat the remaining oil in a very large skillet over low heat. Add zucchini and fry, sometimes stirring, until the vegetables heat up and begin to soften, about three minutes. Do not overcook them. Sprinkle half a teaspoon of salt.
Arrange the noodles from the zucchini on the serving plates. On top lay the stewed turkey with eggplant and serve the dish with grated Parmesan cheese.
Another braised option
This is another interesting dish. You can easily cook it at home. This simple eggplant turkey recipe requires the following:
- 900 grams of turkey fillet, chopped finely;
- 2 eggplants, peeled and cut into pieces;
- 2 green bell peppers, sliced;
- 2 red bell peppers, sliced;
- 4 tomatoes, diced;
- 2 garlic cloves crushed;
- 1 tsp black pepper;
- table salt to taste;
- olive oil.
Cooking a delicious vegetable dish
In a pan with a thick bottom, put the turkey, pour a little water and close the lid. Cook until water evaporates (20-30 minutes) at low temperature. Then add salt, black pepper and thyme. Fry for two minutes at medium temperature. Set aside, covered with foil.
Preheat the oven to 200 ° C. Rinse and peel the eggplant, cut into large pieces. Mix them with chopped green and red peppers in a medium capacity. Add salt and olive oil and mix. Fold them in a glass baking dish. Bake for about 20 minutes.
Prepare tomato sauce at this time. Put the tomatoes in a pan and stew them with butter, salt and garlic. Combine the baked vegetables with boiled turkey fillet and pour the tomato sauce on top. You can mix all the components together.
Summary
Now you know how to quickly and easily bake eggplant with turkey. Do not be afraid to experiment, because these vegetables are difficult to spoil. And they combine with many ingredients. Bon Appetit!