Eggplants are popping out in northeast CSA shares this week. And farmer’s markets are crawling with tomatoes. Thus this seems like the perfect dish to try this week. It can easily fly solo as a vegetarian main course, or be served as a hearty side to a simple sausage or chicken breast. You can add or subtract as many veggies as you like to the stuffing- for instance collard greens would go great as would broccoli, green peppers, or even butternut squash. Go ahead and get creative with your favorite flavors!

Ingredients

  • 1 small eggplant, halved lengthwise
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  • 1 small onion, sliced
  • 4 oz. cremini mushrooms, cubed
  • 1 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
  • 1 small carrot, quartered and sliced
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tomato cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Directions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400
  2. Place eggplant halves in a 9×9 pan, cut sides up. Sprinkle each half with about 1/4 teaspoon salt
  3. In a small skillet over a medium heat, saute the onions, mushrooms, zucchini and carrot in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until onions begin to be translucent, about five minutes
  4. Transfer the mixture into a small bowl and stir in the tomato, basil, and remaining salt
  5. Pile the mixture on top of the eggplant halves and drizzle the remaining olive oil, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes
  6. Remove the foil and bake until eggplants are soft and tender, uncovered, for about 20 more minutes

We opted to have chicken sausages for our protein with this dish so I added them to the baking dish at the point where I removed the foil and baked for 20 more minutes (as my sausages were pre-cooked).

This recipe was inspired by this post and tweaked by me.

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