Nathan's Favorite Stuffed Eggplant (Aubergine)

Submitted by Tante B

"I love this recipe for the simple reason that everyone in my family loves it. My 10 year old smells it baking before he's entered the apartment & his first words are "Thank you Mommy" - my 15 year old gets home & automatically says he's not hungry- the next question is, how much did I make, can one of his friends also eat over."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 35mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 eggplants
• 1 onion
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 -6 garlic cloves, crushed (I use up 6)
• 1 (400 g) can chopped tomatoes
• 1 (500 g) package mashed tomatoes or (500 g) package tomato sauce
• 1⁄3 cup pine nuts (optional)
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• 1⁄2 - 1 teaspoon basil
• pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1⁄2 - 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 300 -400 g grated cheese
• 1⁄2 - 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 375 g mozzarella cheese, sliced

directions

1. Slice eggplants in half and scoop out flesh leaving just enough for a sturdy shell.
2. Combine eggplant flesh and onion; let your kitchen machine chop.
3. Put olive oil in large frying pan and heat.
4. Add onion and eggplant mixture and crushed garlic.
5. Saute on high heat 10 minutes.
6. Reduce heat to simmer; add tomatoes and tomatoes (mashed) sauce.
7. Add nuts and spices; let simmer 10 more minutes.
8. Turn off heat and add beaten egg.
9. Add cheeses- any kind you like is fine as long as you include the Parmesan.
10. Add breadcrumbs till you have a thickened consistency.
11. All quantities are flexible depending on the size of the eggplants- (I use med. to large) and of course how much you like cheese.
12. Next fill eggplants.
13. Cover with sliced mozzarella.
14. Bake at 350°F 35- 45 minutes; if you like to eat the shell about an hour.

Reviews

[jaynine]

Wow, this was wonderful. I did make some changes, just because of what I had on hand. I used fresh tomatoes that I chopped up instead of the canned; I skipped the tomato sauce because I didn't want the stuffing to be too saucy; and I used Italian seasoning instead of the parsley and basil. I eyeballed everything else which means this is a very flexible recipe. The taste was fabulous. I used mozzarella and parmesan in the stuffing, and fresh mozzarella on top. Mine only needed 35 minutes to be done and for the shell to get soft, but I had small eggplants. Definitely a 5 star recipe!

 

[Rising_road]

I rather ambitiously made this for the first time for 16 people! Aside from it taking ages to scoop out the flesh, this was easy to do and delicious...

 

[Georgiapea]

My boyfriend and I made this and it was delicious! We did add some ricotta to the recipe and drained the tomatoes to make up for the extra liquid. It was so good - a little time consuming to scoop out all the centers, but well worth it. Thanks very much!

 

[Leah K.]

LOVE eggplant but I never make any eggplant dishes because my family does not care for it. It was recently my birthday, and feeling somewhat entitled, I decided that for dinner I was going to make what I wanted. So I made this recipe, [I had been eyeing it for a long time but did not want to go through all the work just for me]. I am so glad I did. My husband enjoyed it, my daughter LOVED it, as did my neighbors who also served as unofficial taste testers. Thank you Tante B. for a fabulous recipe!!!!