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I’ve never had eggplant before and all I could think about when I bought it was that I have never heard the words yum and eggplant in the same sentence. Maybe it’s because whoever I heard talk about eggplant bought it in December when it wasn’t in season. I do have to say that my first experience with eggplant was indeed yummy.

For dinner tonight we had whole wheat spaghetti tossed with homemade pesto and roasted green peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini and we also had stuffed eggplant. All of the veggies either came from the farmer’s market or from our garden.

Here’s the recipe for the stuffed eggplant:

1 medium sized eggplant,sliced lengthwise
1 medium tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 big cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
2 big leaves of swiss chard, chopped
1/2 cup cooked rice
2 tsp bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded cheese
olive oil
salt, pepper, and italian seasoning to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

Scoop the pulp out of the eggplant and chop it up. Coat a medium sized skillet with olive oil and cook the tomato and garlic for about 3-4 minutes or until the tomato gets bubbly. Add the chopped eggplant and the zucchini and cook for about 6 minutes longer or until the zucchini is tender. Add the swiss chard and cook for about another minute until the chard starts to wilt. Add the salt, pepper, and italian seasoning to suit your taste. Add the rice and stir. Fill each half of the eggplant with the mixture and place in a baking dish, cover and bake at 400 for 15 minutes. In the meantime, mix the bread crumbs and cheese. When the 15 minutes is up, lightly brush the eggplant and stuffing mixture with some olive oil. If you have olive oil spray, you can use that. Top with the bread crumbs and cheese and bake uncovered for about 15 more minutes.

Next time I make it I’m going to use homemade ricotta cheese in the stuffing and use more tomato and add some basil.

I’m almost done with The Ominivore’s Dilemma and I’m not sure what book to read next. It takes me forever to read nonfiction and I’m looking forward to a no-brainer type book next.