Cold stuffed round eggplants, melanzane fredde ripiene, are one of the recipes I keep coming back to from my mother's collection of Cucina Italiana. The round shells hold a veal and sausage filling, and because they are served cold I can make the whole thing well before the meal.
Wash and dry the eggplants. Cut a small lid off the top of each one and scoop out the inner pulp without breaking the outer shells.
Put the pulp in a strainer, sprinkle it with salt, and let it drain to take out the bitterness.
Make the filling
Soak the stale bread in a little milk.
Finely chop the onion, one garlic clove, and a small handful of parsley.
Soften them in the butter with the crumbled bouillon cube.
In a large bowl combine the ground veal, the sausage meat, the softened onion mixture, the Parmigiano Reggiano, two eggs, the soaked bread squeezed of its milk, salt, nutmeg, and a little chopped parsley.
Knead by hand until the filling is even.
Fill the four eggplant shells with the meat mixture, put their lids back on, and set them in a baking dish.
Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 375°F (190°C) for close to one hour, covering the dish with aluminum foil after the first 30 minutes.
Make the topping
Sauté a handful of chopped parsley and the second garlic clove in three or four tablespoons of olive oil.
Add the reserved eggplant pulp, washed, squeezed and chopped, then season with salt and cook it gently.
Hard-boil the remaining egg, let it cool, peel it, and chop it finely.
Assemble
Take the baked eggplants out of the oven and let them cool completely.
Remove the lids and slice each eggplant in half lengthwise.
Blend the cooked pulp with the yogurt on medium speed for two minutes until you have a smooth cream, then chill it.
Stir a little finely chopped parsley into the chilled eggplant and yogurt cream.
Spread a generous layer over the cut surface of each eggplant half, scatter the chopped hard-boiled egg on top, and finish each one with a parsley leaf.
Keep them in the refrigerator until you serve them.