Mediterranean vegetables and meatballs gratin

My boys like meatballs and potatoes, oven cooked dishes but they still didn’t develop my liking for courgettes and aubergines. I had no time to cook two separate dishes and just a tiny bit of mince in the back of the freezer, hence the creation of this dish.
If you do not have to survive such dilemmas on an everyday basis, just layer one veggie at a time, or use only one as it appears in my mum’s recipe.
See, she dealt with things in a firmer way. That’s dinner, eat it or ….no other choices really, as starving wasn’t really an option.
That’s why I am not a fussy eater!!!

Ingredients:
2 Aubergines
2 medium courgettes
2 potatoes
½ tin of chopped tomatoes or 4 fresh tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
Dried oregano
250 g mince meat
½ cup coriander leaves
1 onion finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Steps:

1.     Mix the mince meat with chopped onions and garlic and coriander leaves. Season with salt and black pepper (1tsp each)

2.     Make ball of the size of a walnut and put aside

3.     Mix tomatoes with ½ cup of water, 1 tsp of salt, 1tsp of black pepper and put on a side

4.     slice the potatoes into fine discs and put aside

Now the layering stage:

5.     Layer half the potatoes in the baking tin (it should take the 1/3 of the surface)

6.     Cover the other two thirds with grilled courgette slices and grilled aubergine slices (again use half the quantity)

7.     Place the meat patties on top of the vegetables layer, than cover again with the second quantity of the vegetables

8.     Pour the tomatoes mixture on top, sprinkle the oregano on top, a drizzle of olive oil

9.     Bake for 30 to 45 minutes in a hot oven until cooked and dry