Eggplant Extravaganza

As we conclude Eggplant Week, we've got a whole slew of recipes for eggplant, plus a link to a blog from a couple of years back about eggplant varieties. Take a look at this list to find out what kinds of eggplant we've been getting in our shares.

Last year we got a lot of eggplant, and we posted recipes for Eggplant Involtini (originally posted by Angie Utley), a recipe for Turkish-style Braised Eggplant from the New York Times, and a recipe for everybody's favorite Middle Eastern party dip, Baba Ganoush.

And here's one more eggplant recipe, for a nice Eggplant Creole Farcie (which means stuffed eggplant, essentially). So now you can try a different way of serving eggplant every day of the week!


Eggplant Creole Farcie

2 small eggplants
2 strips bacon
¼ cup minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup minced green pepper
1 stalk celery, minced
2 tomatoes, skinned
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup Asiago cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the eggplants in halves and scoop out the pulp, leaving a shell to fill (about 3/8” thick). Chop the pulp to small pieces.

Cut the bacon into small pieces and put it in a skillet; when starts to fry, add the onion, garlic, celery and pepper and cook until the bacon is crisp. Add the eggplant and the tomatoes. (To quickly skin a tomato, drop it in boiling water for 10 minutes. When it cools, the skin will slip off; cut out the stem core with a knife and it’s ready.)

Simmer until eggplant is tender and then beat the mixture with a fork until well blended. Season with salt and pepper and fill the eggplant shells with the mixture. Cover the tops of each with shredded Asiago cheese. Put a little water in the bottom of a pan with a rack and place the eggplant on the rack. Cook about 30 minutes, until shells are thoroughly heated.

Depending on the size of the eggplants, makes 2-4 servings.