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Many tavernas and restaurants on Crete offer a dish called papoutsakia, which
translates to English as ‘small shoes’. Papoutsakia is a dish made of aubergines
stuffed with minced meat.
The aubergine is cut lengthwise into two pieces and fried in olive oil for a
short time. At the same time the filling is also fried (the filling generally
consists of minced meat, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper). Following
this, the aubergine is stuffed with the filling then topped with a creamy
béchamel sauce (created from milk, cheese and butter) and placed in an oven to
bake for 20 minutes or so.
Papoutsakia is in the mid-range price level (€5-7) in the tavernas which offer
it. Currently you can find it in around half the restaurants on the island, but
it is becoming more widely available due to demand from tourists who have
discovered this dish and enjoy it.
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