Baked Stuffed Eggplant
By: Anonymous
Published: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - 11:59pm

Ingredients




2 smalls eggplants, cut lengthwise
2 smalls tomatoes, red ripe, halve/seed/dice
1/4 pound mozzarella cheese, diced
5 fresh basil leaves, shredded, up to 6
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pch dried red pepper flakes

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 350F. 2 With a tablespoon, scoop out some of the pulp from the eggplant halves, making sure not to break the skin. Place the eggplant halves on a large platter and sprinkle generously with slat. Let stand about 20 minutes to allow the salt to draw out the eggplant's bitter juices. Pat the eggplant dry with paper towels. 3 Dice the pulp of the eggplant and put it in a bowl with the tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, parsley, garlic, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper flakes. Fill the eggplant's cavities with this mixture. 4 Oil a baking dish lightly, and put the eggplant halves into the dish. Bake until they are lightly golden, soft to the touvh, and easily pierced with the tip of a thin knife, 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of the eggplants. 5 Serve hot or at room temperature. 6 NOTES:This is from Biba Caggiano's "Trattoria Cooking" cookbook. It is easy to do and can be doubled and frozen for an additional meal later on. 7 One of Biba's notes is that she will dice any leftover eggplant and toss it quickly in a skillet with extra virgin olive oil and freshly diced tomatoes and serve it over penne, shells, or rigatoni.