Vegetarian Stuffed Eggplant

Ok, so my friend from work, Faith, gave me some lovely eggplants from her garden...so I have never made stuffed eggplant before....but this was so good! The filling was soooo flavorful, you don't even miss the meat! The only prob I had was the "shells" were not as cooked as I would like them to be. I might boil them next time....if she has more eggplant I will try it again this week. But the filling was so dang good that I would just make that!
***if the eggplant is too firm, just eat the filling, that is what I did***
Karen's Stuffed Eggplant









2 med sized eggplant, sliced in half lengthwise
3 T olive oil
1 med Vidalia onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C Chicken (or vegetable) stock
1 oz red wine
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 C toasted pine nuts
1/3 C fresh basil, sliced into chiffonade
3/4 C Panko (japanese) bread crumbs
1/2 C Parmesan (generous 1/2 c)
few Tbsps vodka sauce (premade, jar)
3 slices part skim mozzerella cheese

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Scoop flesh out of eggplant, leaving 1/4 inch shells. Drizzle eggplant "boats" with olive oil. Place Eggplant "boats" in baking dish over nonstick foil in oven for 30 minutes or so (until fork tender).

Chop eggplant flesh finely. Heat 3 T olive oil over med. heat. Saute onion for about 10 minutes. add garlic and saute another minute. Add salt and pepper. Add chopped eggplant, chicken stock and wine and saute 20 minutes. Add tomatoes, pine nuts, basil and cook another 5 minutes. Filling should be tender, if not keep cooking until it is.....eggplant takes a really long ass time to get tender. Once tender, add breadcrumbs and parmesan. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

Spoon mixture into eggplant "boats" press and form into domes. Drizzle olive oil over top and bake for 45 minutes. Add vodka or tomato sauce and sliced mozzerella and broil 5 minutes until cheese is browned and bubbly.

Pasta Eggplant Bake

1 Eggplant, sliced into 1x2 inch slices (fairly thin)
Basting Oil (from Wegmans), or EVOO with garlic
salt to taste
2 C Whole Wheat Pasta
Prepared tomato sauce (I used Paesana Vodka Sauce from Costco) 5 slices low fat mozzerella cheese, sliced

Preheat oven to 450 F. Slice Eggplant and put in baking dish and toss with oil. Bake 15 minutes at 400 and then raise temp to 450 and bake another 10 to 15 minutes until soft. Stirring throughout cooking. While eggplant is cooking boil 2 C Pasta of your choice (we used whole wheat rotini). Cook pasta until done and drain. Mix with enough tomato sauce (or vodka sauce--highly recommended) to coat. Mix in eggplant. Layer sliced cheese over top until covered. Cover dish and bake 25 minutes at 400 degrees F. It is so yummy and pretty healthy.