Thomasina Miers’ spiced lamb-stuffed aubergine with aleppo chilli butter. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Mandy Thompson. View image in fullscreen Thomasina Miers’ spiced lamb-stuffed aubergine with aleppo chilli butter. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Mandy Thompson. Thomasina Miers recipes Lamb Thomasina Miers’ recipes for spiced lamb-stuffed aubergine with aleppo chilli butter, and berry ripple ice-cream A meaty, Middle Eastern style stuffed vegetable feast finished off with an ice-cold berry dessert
Thomasina Miers Sat 22 Aug 2026 13.00 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google T here’s something delightfully retro about stuffed vegetables. They take me back to Delia Smith’s iconic Summer Collection cookbook , which blew my tiny mind when it came out in my early teens. Too sheltered to know about the e rage that had inspired Delia, I delved into my mother’s vegetable crisper with reverence, stuffing courgettes, tomatoes and aubergines with a zeal that had escaped me at school. How could the roasting, reducing and condensing of ingredients create such explosions of flavour? I was hooked. I have recently been returning to this technique with glee, a simple solution for turning seasonal vegetables into feasts.
Serve these richly seasoned aubergines with warm, herb-flecked bulgur, rice or flatbreads, and a parsley and onion salad.
Prep 15 min Salt 20 min Cook 1 hr 30 min Serves 4-6
5 medium aubergines Salt and black pepper Olive oil 400g lamb mince 2 small onions , peeled and finely chopped 2 garlic cloves , peeled and crushed 1 green pepper , halved, stalk, pith and seeds removed and discarded, flesh cut into 1cm dice 200g cherry tomatoes , chopped 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground cinnamon 3 tsp aleppo chilli 2 tbsp Turkish red pepper paste , or tomato paste 400g tin finely chopped tomatoes 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley , picked and chopped 50g unsalted butter 200g Greek yoghurt , to serve
Cut the aubergines in half lengthways, then slice a lattice of crisscrosses over the flesh of each cut side, being careful not to cut down through the skin. Lay the aubergines flesh side up on a baking dish, sprinkle generously with salt, and leave for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7.
Using kitchen paper, blot away any moisture from the aubergine flesh, then drizzle over a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes, until browned and softened, then remove and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Put a large pan on a medium-high heat, then add a tablespoon of olive oil and the lamb. Season generously with salt and pepper and saute for seven to eight minutes, until the meat starts to catch and brown. Stir in the onions and garlic, turn down the heat down to medium and cook, stirring often, for 10-12 minutes, until the onions have softened.
Add the green pepper, cherry tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon and one teaspoon of aleppo chilli, and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the pepper paste and half the chopped tomatoes, and cook for a further 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then stir in half the chopped parsley.
Carefully spoon the filling over each aubergine half. Mix the remaining half-tin of chopped tomatoes with 200ml boiling water and season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture around the aubergines in the tin, cover wi…