June recipe: Beef & quinoa stuffed aubergine

This month’s recipe is a filling, hearty, nutritious and colourful dish. The beef and quinoa stuffed aubergine combines many textures and flavours for an explosion of taste. It’s an easy combination of ingredients and is useful for a large dinner table, or to be made and frozen for future uses for midweek dinners.

Aubergines need plenty of sunshine and warmth to thrive. Therefore, you’ll get the best results by growing them in a greenhouse, cold frame, or indoors near a window. Although in southern areas, they may be able to tolerate growing outdoors in a sunny and sheltered spot. Planting between February and March is ideal because it gives the plants a longer amount of time to establish and access sun.

Sow seeds by filling small pots with peat-free seed compost and sowing the seeds directly onto the surface. Sprinkle with a thin later of compost, water in and place in a heated propagator at the temperature of 21˚C. Alternatively, tie a plastic bag around the pot and place on a sunny windowsill to mimic the conditions. After 2 weeks the seedlings should have germinated, so they can be removed from the propagator and left to grow indoors. Keep the compost moist by regularly watering and ensure they get plenty of light.

This tasty and healthy meal can be adapted to suit different lifestyles and dietary requirements. If you’d like to make this fit for a vegetarian meal just swap out the minced beef for more quinoa or mix in some lentils to bulk it out. For a vegan twist, don’t use beef and swap out the mozzarella for a dairy free cheese substitute instead.

What’s more, this is also a good dish to cook in bulk for future use. Either complete the recipe and freeze it or just create the filling and freeze this to add to freshly roasted aubergines.

So, make this tasty and nutritious beef and quinoa stuffed aubergine as a filling main meal. Grow your own aubergines to roast to give it that homegrown goodness, and if needed adapt the recipe to suit your needs.