Stuffed Eggplant

Name: Stuffed Eggplant
Ingredients: 1 small eggplant, about 5 inches long; 1/2 cup cooked rice; 1/2 cup cooked meat (lamb, preferably, or pork, beef, leftover meatloaf), chopped fine; 2 scallions, diced fine; 2 teaspoons toasted pine nuts; 2 canned tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), squeezed, or, if in season, 2 small fresh tomatoes, diced; Pinch of cinnamon; Salt and freshly ground pepper; 2 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs; Extra-virgin olive oil

10 ingredients

10 steps

Ingredients

1 small eggplant, about 5 inches long
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup cooked meat (lamb, preferably, or pork, beef, leftover meatloaf), chopped fine
2 scallions, diced fine
2 teaspoons toasted pine nuts
2 canned tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), squeezed, or, if in season, 2 small fresh tomatoes, diced
Pinch of cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs
Extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

1

Prick the eggplant all over with a fork, and put it in a preheated 425 oven for 35 minutes.
2

Remove, and let cool.
3

Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise, and scoop out the flesh, leaving a comfortable border of skin and flesh all around.
4

Chop the eggplant flesh you have extracted, and mix it in a bowl with the rice, meat, scallions, pine nuts, and tomatoes.
5

Season with cinnamon, salt, and pepper.
6

Spoon this filling back into the eggplant shells, mounding it up in the middle, and arrange the halves in a shallow baking pan that just holds them.
7

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top, and drizzle onto them a little olive oil.
8

Bake in a preheated 400 oven for 3035 minutes, until tender and browned on top.
9

Stuff green peppers or zucchini in the same way, using the same general proportions.
10

I like to blanch both these vegetables for a couple of in boiling water before I fill them and bake them.