Baked Stuffed Eggplant

Preheat oven to 350ºF.With a tablespoon, scoop out some of the pulp from the eggplant halves, making sure not to break the skin. Place the eggplant halves on a large platter and sprinkle generously with slat. Let stand about 20 minutes to allow the salt to draw out the eggplants bitter juices. Pat the eggplant dry with paper towels. Dice the pulp of the eggplant and put it in a bowl with the tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, parsley, garlic, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper flakes. Fill the eggplants cavities with this mixture. Oil a baking dish lightly, and put the eggplant halves into the dish. Bake until they are lightly golden, soft to the touch, and easily pierced with the tip of a thin knife, 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of the eggplants. Serve hot or at room temperature.

NOTES: This is from Biba Caggianos _Trattoria Cooking_ cookbook. It is easy to do and can be doubled and frozen for an additional meal later on. One of Bibas notes is that she will dice any leftover eggplant and toss it quickly in a skillet with extra virgin olive oil and freshly diced tomatoes and serve it over penne, shells, or rigatoni. Recipe by: Janet Morrissey <janetm@MAGNUS1.COM> Posted to recipelu-digest Volume 01 Number 178 by RecipeLu <recipelu@geocities.com> on Oct 29, 1997