Chop out the eggplant middle, leaving about 1- to 1 1/2-centimetre thick wall. Chop all the eggplant into cubes. Chop the onion, mushroom and tomato up. Brown the onions in the pan and put the mince in; once that has browned, add the eggplant and spinach. Once they have softened a little bit, add mushrooms and tomatoes. Add in herbs and spices. I used dried herbs, but I would have preferred fresh parsley.

While waiting for the mince to cook, put the empty eggplant shells into the oven at about 180 degrees on baking paper to start softening up and browning up a little. We don’t want to make them too soft at this point, so if they are small eggplants, skip this bit for the moment.

Once the meat dish has been cooked, and the eggplant is nice and soft, take the shells out of the oven.

I did not realize, but the ricotta I bought was not in little squares (as I had hoped, I think I got confused with fetta); it was a paste. Place the mince mix into the eggplant shells, and don’t be afraid to overload them. Providing you left a thick enough wall, the eggplant should not collapse.

Place some ricotta on the top of each and then add some melty cheese. I have never really cooked with or used ricotta much, so place as much as you do or don’t like. If you want ricotta, you could quickly slather the entire top with it and use that instead of any other cheese.