Good Eats: Stuffed Eggplant

I recently tried this new recipe since eggplants were on sale last week and I love eggplant! I usually make Eggplant Parmesan but I decided to try it stuffed instead. Here is the recipe I used, courtesy of Cooking Light (www.myrecipes.com):

Ingredients:

• 2 medium eggplants, each cut in half lengthwise (about 2 pounds)
• Cooking spray
• 1 (1-ounce) slice white bread
• 1 teaspoon extravirgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
• 1 1/4 cups finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup finely chopped seeded plum tomato
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 400°.
• Score cut side of each eggplant half by making 4 crosswise cuts. Place the eggplant halves, cut sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; cool on pan 10 minutes. Carefully remove pulp, leaving a 1/3-inch-thick shell; reserve eggplant shells. Chop pulp.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350°.
• Place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1/2 cup. Drizzle the breadcrumbs with olive oil, and pulse to combine.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in the chopped eggplant, bell pepper, tomato, oregano, and garlic; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, parsley, salt, and black pepper. Stuff each eggplant shell with about 1/2 cup onion mixture; sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture. Place on a baking sheet; bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated and lightly browned.

-I did alter this recipe to make it more man-friendly as stuffed vegetables are not necessarily the husband's thing. I did use seasoned bread crumbs in favor of making my own. I also substituted the fresh oregano for fresh basil and substituted the feta cheese with sharp cheddar cheese, which gave the dish a more American vibe over the Greek vibe. I did this mainly because I can get Jerame to eat anything if I put cheddar cheese on it. The end result was pretty tasty and there was plenty of flavor! My one note would be to not cook the eggplant as long initially. The recipe calls for 25 minutes at 400 degrees but next time I will check the eggplant after 15 minutes and probably go for a maximum of 20 minutes. Cooking it initially for 25 minutes left the eggplant a little too soft for my liking. Altogether, this was a solid recipe and a good use of summer produce.

Sweating the onions and the initial roasting of the eggplant

The final result! Served with salad greens tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a dash of parmesan cheese. Yum!