life, recipes

If You Like Eggplant …

Lori
Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

… you’ll probably like this recipe. This one is good for vegetarians too. (The purple font isn’t as close to eggplant color as I wanted it to be).

One day (a long time ago) when I had some time on my hands, I was flipping through TV channels. I came across a dazzling panoramic view of a lonely island in the Mediterranean. It looked familiar. Ahh, yes, it was the Isle of Capri, the place I wrote about in my anthology in the story titled Don’t Blink. Joyous memories flooded my being. I missed my family and traveling to exotic lands.

Once I shook myself out of the nostalgic daze, I wondered if I’d landed on the travel channel.

Nope.

It was the food network. Little Miss Hotsy-Totsy Giada (aka the smiley cleavage lady) was making her way through the island, shopping and cooking with relatives.

I kid about Giada, I like her cooking show. Reminds me of home. She and her family friend, Renalto, from the island, cooked a scrumptious Eggplant Parmesana. Except, here in America we’d likely call it Stuffed Eggplant. I tried it and it turned out delicious. Here’s the recipe.

Stuffed Eggplant/Parmesana

1 eggplant or 2 eggplants (or as many as you need for how ever many people you are cooking for)
1 to 4 Roma tomatoes (again, depending on how many people)
1 to 2 tsp. capers
1 or 2 large cloves of garlic chopped
3 tbls extra light olive oil
Grated romano or parmesan cheese to taste
Salt & pepper if desired (my addition)

Keep dog out of kitchen while cooking.:-)
Keep dog out of kitchen while cooking.
🙂

Cut eggplant in half. Hollow out the inside of each side of the eggplant and then dice into small pieces. 

Not the best hollowing out, but it'll do.
Not the best hollowing out, but it’ll do.

Heat chopped garlic in oil until sizzling, then toss chopped eggplant in and sauté for 3 minutes.

eggplant 2 wm
Remove from heat.
Dice up tomatoes.
Toss in diced tomatoes and capers, then stir into eggplant. Salt & Pepper if desired, but capers can add salty flavor.

eggplant mix wm

Scoop mixture into each hollowed out side of eggplant. Sprinkle the tops with Romano or Parmesan cheese. Bake in 350° oven for approximately 30 to 40 minutes, until eggplant skin is soft enough to eat.

eggplant 3 wm

Note: Depending on what size eggplant you use, cooking time varies. My eggplant was medium to large. The original recipe I saw on Cooking Channel had small, long and thin eggplants that only took 10 minutes to cook. Mine took forty minutes.

eggplant 4 wm

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Published by Lori

Observer, thinker, learner, analyzer, and author. Love dogs. Enjoy cooking, laughing and spiritual centering.

31 thoughts on “If You Like Eggplant …”

  2. I love eggplant in any form… so this suggestion is very welcome. i love the simplcity. I also love the photo of Max with his nose over the threshold… my dog and cats would never have considered the possibility of staying out of the kitchen 😉

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    1. Hee, hee, Max has been trained not to enter the kitchen, and that’s very difficult, since the other side of the kitchen is wide open to the family room. It’s an impossibility with cats. My cat, Sneakers, who is no longer with us, used to mosey on in all the time. Glad you liked the recipe, EllaDee. Sometimes less is more, but the flavors sing. And … it’s easy to make.

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    1. Oh goody! I got you interested in a recipe. 🙂 Hey, I put steps to a few of my other recipes too. In case any of them strike your fancy, they’re on my recipes page. Thanks for checking it out, Linda.

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    1. Glad it helps, Anneli. I’ve done that with several other recipes too, in case you’d like to look back on my recipe page for something else. Always good to see you.

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      1. Thanks, I’ll do that. It’s almost as if I’m in your kitchen and you’re showing me what to do. “A picture tells a thousand words” is especially helpful in cooking.

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    1. They’re not all for everyone. I’ve already blogged about my enemy the onion. Heh. Being Italian, eggplant is a staple for us. Thanks for coming over and checking it out even though you aren’t a fan of the vegee.

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  6. Looks yummy. Your dog looks sad about being kicked out of the kitchen, poor guy.

    Giada kinda bugs me. She says stuff like, “Then you add a teaspoon of sugar to give it, to give it, to give it, (as she searches her brain for the right word) a little sweetness.” Duh. Her recipes are good tho.

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    1. Giada bugs me sometimes too, but in the end, I usually like her recipes. Not to mention that it feels like home for me when I watch her Italian family.

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  7. have never really tried eggplant always thought it seemed quite fiddly to prepare (thought it involved some sort of soaking or something to do with salt) before but might have to give this ago

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    1. Ahh, there are some recipes where eggplant needs to be soaked. My Italian family does a pickled type eggplant recipe where they soak it. I’ve only made that once, because it’s time consuming. This one, however, is super quick and easy to make. Very tasty too. Thanks for checking it out and commenting, Paula.

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    1. Hi Robin. My dog Max is really never allowed in the kitchen, but he tries to sneak in when I’m cooking. In the photo he snuck a bit of his snout over the tile, the stinker. Thanks so much for checking it out and commenting.

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  11. Oh wow! We have plenty of egg plants at my parents’ home. I will have to steal this recipe when I go home. 🙂 Thank you.

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