This is a delicious warm dish full of flavour. As Vegetarian/Vegans we eat a lot of eggplant. There are so many ways you can stuff an eggplant and you can really be creative.
Ingredients
Eggplants
- 4 Eggplants
- 2 Shallots, sliced
- 2 Cloves Garlic finely chopped
- 1/2 cup Quinoa (we used black quinoa)
- 1 cup Brown Rice cooked (great for using up rice from a previous meal)
- 1 Cup Vegetable Stock
- 1 Tbs Tomato Paste
- 1/2 Cup Semi-Sundried Tomato roughly chopped (you can use sundried that have been soaked for an hour or two, but we like the softness of semi)
- 1/4 cup Kalamata Olives pitted and roughly chopped
Salad
- 2 Punnets Cherry tomatoes of different varieties
- Big handful of fresh green beans
- 1 Bunch Basil
Dressing
- 1 part good sherry vinegar
- 1 part extra virgin olive oil
- Wholegrain mustard to taste (we put in a fair bit)
- Freshly ground pepper and sea salt to taste
Method
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius
- Cut eggplants in half long ways. Score flesh deeply from top to bottom (and across, which we forgot to do until it was finger-burning-hot). This allows the eggplant flesh to soften evenly and to make room for the stuffing.
- Place them face up on a baking tray. Season and drizzle with olive oil
- Bake for about 40 minutes or until soft and golden
- With a bit of oil in a frying pan, cook shallots on a medium heat until transparent
- Add garlic and cook for a few minutes
- Add Quinoa and toast in the hot pan
- Pour in half the stock and simmer, stirring for 5 minutes
- Add the cooked brown rice, the rest of the stock and tomato paste, semi sun-dried tomatoes and olives.
- Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes
- When eggplants are soft, take them out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes
- When cool enough to touch, stuff with the Quinoa and Rice. Pile as much in and on there as you can. It will shrink a little more.
- Put eggplants back in the oven on the bottom shelf on grill for 5-10 minutes until top is crispy
- For the salad simply chop the tomatoes in half (if you like). Top and tail beans and pick off the basil leaves. A good cup is nice.
- Toss all together with the dressing. It's simple, light and fresh and balances out the richness of the eggplants perfectly. (Good Italian style.)
