Stuffed Eggplant with Cauliflower Cream Sauce

This stuffed eggplant with cauliflower cream sauce is a gluten free take on moussaka. Eggplant stuffed with seasoned meat and topped with a creamy cauliflower cheese sauce.

I love, love, love moussaka, especially my mother’s moussaka. Every time I see those small, purple eggplants at the grocery store I want to make it. Sadly both my husband and son will not eat eggplant, so I end up eating it all. However this time I couldn’t resist buying a few and thought I’d try a variation on my mother’s recipe. I stuffed them with the same meat sauce and used a cheesy, cauliflower cream sauce instead of the béchamel sauce. That way I could eliminate the flour and keep it gluten free. I loved it of course and since I made a lot of it and I ended up freezing half of it. But on those days I’m craving moussaka, these little beauties will be waiting for me in the freezer.

The color of eggplant is what lures me to buy them. I just love their dark purple/wine color. I have a thing for colorful vegetables. I know I’ve remarked on them in my colorful curried carrots recipe as well as my roasted veggie mash recipe. I guess I sound like a vegetable weirdo so let’s move on to this recipe. 

To make these stuffed eggplant, I first cut them in half and roasted them for about 40 minutes. When they cooled, I scooped a bit of the middle out and then filled it back in with my meat sauce. If you don’t want to waste the insides you could throw them in with the meat sauce or save them to make a small dish of baba ganoush.  I used the same meat sauce as my regular moussaka without the bread crumbs and cooked it while the eggplant was roasting. Lastly I topped the eggplant with some cauliflower cream and cheddar cheese and put them back in the oven for another 30 minutes. 

Stuffed Eggplant with Cauliflower Cream Sauce

You can serve these with rice if you like, but I ate them as is. The creamy cauliflower and cheese, complement the spice of the meat sauce and velvety cooked eggplant. It was delicious! I think this was an easier way to get my moussaka fix. It’s nice that this recipe makes individual portions and don’t forget that it freezes well. If you are an eggplant fan, I’m sure you are going to love these.  Then nutritional information for 1 serving is:

277 cals / 13.5g fat / 19.1g carbs /9.3g fiber / 22.3g protein = 9.8g net carbs

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Stuffed Eggplant with Cauliflower Cream Sauce

This stuffed eggplant with cauliflower cream sauce is a gluten free take on moussaka. Eggplant stuffed with seasoned meat and topped with a creamy cauliflower cheese sauce.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword eggplant, moussaka

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings 10

Calories 277 kcal

Author Denise Wright (MyLifeCookbook.com)

Ingredients

• 5 small eggplants cut in half length wise
• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 1 cup onions minced
• 3 oz tomato paste half a can
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups cauliflower florets
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic crushed
• 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup cheddar shredded

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Add the cut eggplant to a parchment lined cookie sheet with the skin face up.
3. Spray with cooking spray and bake for 40 minutes.
4. In the meantime add your butter, onions, ground beef and garlic to a pan and cook until browned.
5. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and spices to the beef mixture.
6. Mix well, cover and cook for 15 minutes on medium low.
7. When the eggplant is done, turn the heat down to 350, take out the eggplant and cool a bit.
8. Take a spoon and scoop out a bit of the middle of each eggplant.
9. Spoon the meat mixture into each of the eggplants.
10. Add your cauliflower florets to a pan and cover with water until just above the cauliflower.
11. Boil until you can pierce the cauliflower with a fork.
12. Strain and add to a high speed blender along with the salt, nutritional yeast, olive oil and nutmeg.
13. Blend on high until smooth and creamy.
14. Cover the eggplant with the cauliflower cream sauce and sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top.
15. Bake for 30 minutes.