Eggplant with Toasted Bread & Yogurt

Preparation

• Cook the ground beef until browned and set aside.
• Peel off a thin strip of skin, about ¼-inch wide, the full length of the eggplant. Leave an equivalent strip of skin unpeeled, peel another, and continue until you have a striped eggplant. Finish the rest of the eggplants in the same way, place on paper towels, and sprinkle with salt. Set aside for 10 minutes, then pat dry with a paper towel.
• Heat oil in deep fryer on high and fry eggplants until golden brown. Transfer to a platter layered with paper towels to soak up surplus oil.

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Put clarified butter in a skillet over medium-high heat, stir in onion, and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add tomato, stir, and cook for 5 minutes, then pour in water and bring to a boil. Add lemon juice, black pepper and salt to taste, then cook several more minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make a slit with a knife in the middle of each eggplant, Fill them with one tablespoon cooked meat apiece and reserve the leftover meat. Add filled eggplants to the tomato sauce, cook for five minutes over low heat, and set aside.
4. Break bread into bite-sized pieces and place in pan with olive oil. Fold to coat bread with oil and place pan in the oven. Toast for 5 minutes, stirring several times, until bread turns golden brown, then set aside.
5. Scoop one cup of tomato sauce and gently pour it over the bread. Fold to combine bread with the sauce, then level it in the pan.
6. Pour yogurt sauce over the bread and spread sauce until the entire surface of the bread is covered. Arrange the cooked, filled eggplants over the yogurt sauce and garnish with leftover meat.
7. Melt butter in a pan over medium-high heat and sauté pine nuts until they turn light golden brown. (Be careful, they burn quickly). Sprinkle pine nuts and butter on top of the garnished eggplants and serve. Serve it hot with Plain Rice and salad. * TIP Eggplants and browned ground meat can be prepared several days in advance.