Stuffed Beetroots with Minced Meat | Hearty Au Gratin

Preheat the oven to 190 °C top/bottom heat. Thoroughly wash the fresh beetroots and parboil in boiling salted water for approx. 30 minutes until al dente. Then drain, rinse briefly with cold water, peel, and cut off a lid at the top. Carefully hollow out the beetroots with a spoon, leaving a sturdy border of about 1 cm. Finely chop the scooped-out flesh.

Finely chop the onion and garlic cloves. Heat a little butter in a pan and sauté the onion and garlic until translucent. Briefly sauté the chopped beetroot flesh and allow to cool. In a bowl, knead the mixed minced meat well with the onion mixture, egg, breadcrumbs, chopped fresh marjoram, and ground caraway seeds. Season generously with fine salt and freshly ground pepper.

Grease a baking dish with the remaining butter. Place the hollowed-out beetroots into the dish and mound the meat mixture into them dome-shaped. Pour the beef broth into the bottom of the dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil, scatter the grated mountain cheese over the stuffed beetroots, and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown.