Phenomenal Stuffed Eggplant
Serves 4
Always use: Organic, Range fed, WHOLE foods, CLEAN, and all natural ingredients.
Vegetarians- Substitute chopped zucchini’s and quinoa
Paleo- disregard cheese
The Stuff you need;
- 2 medium eggplants
- 1 pound Italian sausage, ground
- 1 diced red onion
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 4 handfuls fresh spinach leaves (or 1 pkg chopped frozen, thawed and drained)
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1+1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1⁄2 cup black olives, chopped
- 2 TBS Italian seasoning
- Salt, Pepper, spices to taste
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan/Reggiano/Romano Italian cheese blend to taste
What to do with the Stuff:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F
- Cut the ends off of the eggplants and then slice in half lengthwise
- Scoop the eggplant meat from the eggplant halves, leaving empty shells, with a bit of a border
- Dice and reserve the eggplant guts- salt lightly set aside
- Place empty eggplant shells in a 13×9 baking dish
- Saute Italian sausage, onion, and garlic in a large skillet over medium-high heat until browned, add spinach, and wine-cook 5 min
- Add the reserved eggplant innards, bell pepper and mushrooms to skillet, simmer an additional 10-15 min until all soft and mixed
- Drain all excess liquid
- Stir in tomato sauce, olives, and Italian seasonings, and simmer 5 minutes- season to taste
- Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese evenly over the inside of the eggplant shells
- Spoon in ample amount of cooked sausage mixture
- Top the stuffed eggplants with mozzarella & parmesan cheeses
- Bake 35 – 40 minutes
- Let cool 5 minutes before serving.