I’ve been growing fresh vegetables for a few months now, and I noticed yesterday that I had a perfectly ripe eggplant sitting in my garden. I wasn’t really in the mood for eggplant parm (although I do love it), so I decided to browse Pinterest for some other eggplant ideas. I came across a recipe for quinoa-stuffed eggplant and thought, “I could definitely make a stuffed eggplant dish.” Honestly, this is nowhere near as healthy as quinoa, since it’s filled with cheese and breadcrumbs, but I did add quite a few veggies to the stuffing to make it at least seem healthy.

The best part about making your own stuffing is you can customize it however you like. I used some of my favorite veggies but also browsed my favorite book, The Flavor Bible, to see what else went well with eggplant—and the recipe below is what I came up with. But feel free to mix it up any way you’d like.  

Ingredients:
1 eggplant
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup sweet onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup marinated artichokes, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
Splash of white wine
1/4 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the eggplant in half horizontally. Hollow at the center of the eggplant—make sure to leave enough of the eggplant so that it holds its form while it bakes. Set the eggplant aside. In a pan, heat butter and olive oil. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium. Add artichokes, then hollowed-out eggplant, then season with salt and pepper and let cook another 2-3 minutes. Add cream cheese and stir while it combines. Then, add Parmesan and let it melt. Finally, add breadcrumbs and combine. When combined, brush eggplant with olive oil and scoop mixture into eggplant. Cook for 50 minutes or until eggplant is tender.

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