Recipe for Josette's Stuffed Vegetables

Once back home in late July I made Josette's stuffed vegetables. I followed her directions using what I could find in my American supermarked. Soaked some cut up bread in milk and mixed it with mild Italian pork sausage, a couple of eggs, a bit of Herbes de Provence, then "stuffed" sliced egg plant, halved plum tomatoes and sliced zucchini. Because I was in a big rush I cheated on the stuffing and just spread it over the vegetables. I added a sprinkle of olive oil. I baked the dish in a 375-350 oven for about a half hour. I checked occasionally by pricking the vegetables to see when they were tender and took them out before they became mushy. It was very tasty. I grated some cheese on my portion. btw After some net research in French cooking sites I discovered that this is a popular southern French country dish. I don't think they make it in Paris ;-) Recipe below using beef looked promising.

Aubergines et Légumes Farcis

250 g entrecôte de boeuf
2 g de persil frais
40 g de gruyère
60 g d'olives vertes
100 g de pain de mie*
50 g d'oeuf(1 oeuf)
2,5 g de sel
0,6 g de cumin
0,6 g de curcuma (Turmeric if I did not have this, I would just leave it out)
50 g de lait écrémé
500 g d'aubergines
270 g de courgettes
400 g de tomates
20 g d'huile d'olive
100 g de gruyère

1. Trier, laver le persil, éponger. Couper le fromage en lamelles. Dénoyauter les olives.
2. Couper le pain de mie en morceaux. Couper la viande en cubes. Dans le bol du robot hachoir, ajouter la viande, le persil.
3. Dans le bol du robot hachoir, ajouter le gruyère, les olives, le pain de mie, l'oeuf.
4. Dans le bol du robot hachoir, ajouter le sel, le cumin, le curcuma, le lait.
5. Hacher l'ensemble et placer au réfrigérateur le bol du robot hachoir. Laver les aubergines, couper la partie supérieure, couper en 2 parties.
6. Creuser les aubergines pour les farcir. Laver les courgettes, couper la partie supérieure, tailler en 2 parties dans le sens de la longueur et creuser pour farcir.
7. Laver les tomates sous l'eau courante, enlever le pédoncule. Couper la partie supérieure de la tomate opposée au pédoncule, creuser pour farcir.
8. Huiler le plat à four, farcir les légumes et les placer au fur et à mesure dans le plat. Ajuster les lamelles de fromage sur chaque farci. Enfourner pendant 1 heure environ.

* Pain de mie is a type of sliced, packaged bread. "Pain" in French means "bread" or "loaf of bread" and "mie" means "crumb" in the culinary sense (not to be confused with bread crumb). In English pain de mie is most identical to pullman loaf or regular sandwich bread. This bread has sugar in it, which makes it sweeter than most French breads, and even with the sugar pain de mie is still not as sweet as most American breads. This bread is usually used for making sandwiches or for toasting. It can be baked in a sealed pan, which prevents crust from forming. If not baked in a sealed pan, the crust can be cut off (as done in factories before packaging). Pain de mie is sold in rounded or rectangular shapes.

Source: http://www.supertoinette.com/recette/650/aubergines_farcies_de_to_di.html