This tasty dish makes a great meatless meal. It's simple, but healthy.
Ingredients
- 4 small eggplants
- salt
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup white rice, precooked for 10 minutes (just to soften the rice)
- ¼ cup parsley, minced
- 1 Tbs basil, minced
- 1 Tbs thyme, leaves minced
- 1 Tbs oregano, minced
- 1 Tbs sage, minced
- ¾ cup Ricotta cheese
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- black pepper, freshly ground
- ½ cup bread crumbs, toasted
- ¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
Directions
- Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and carefully hollow out the halves, leaving a ½” of flesh. Keep the inside of the eggplant.
- Sprinkle the hollowed out eggplant with salt and turn upside down on paper towels to drain.
- Chop the flesh you scooped out of the eggplant.
- In a skillet, over a medium-low heat, heat 2 Tbs of olive oil. Cook the chopped eggplant with the onion and garlic for about 15 minutes, until the eggplant is soft.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the slightly cooked rice, herbs, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and Ricotta cheese.
- Rinse the eggplant shells and pat dry.
- Lightly oil a baking dish with olive oil.
- Fill the eggplant shells with the stuffing, don’t over fill or pack the stuffing down.
- Set the shells in the baking dish.
- Sprinkle with bread crumbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
- Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the eggplant.
- Add an inch of hot water to the baking dish.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350F. The tops should be golden brown.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.