Meatless Stuffed Eggplants - Melanzane Ripiene Vegetariane

Meatless stuffed eggplants (Melanzane ripiene vegetariane)

 

Stuffed eggplants are one of our favorite dishes.  The filling can be modified in many ways: more spicy (adding a peperoncino), tastier (adding more cheese at the end of cooking), while the meat may be beef, pork, veal only, or a mix of veal and pork.  The choice is yours!  See Stuffed eggplants alla casalese.
 

Choosing eggplants is a ritual:  look for even color and firm feel. The eggplant should be heavy relative to its size; when you pick it up at the market, it should be firm and crisp, not spongy, to the touch.

In this case, I recommend you do not buy too big to shorten cooking time.

Ingredients
6 small to medium eggplants
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red or green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups cubes of day-old country bread
1 cup water
1 cup grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 can pitted ripe olives, chopped
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Pour the water over the bread cubes in a small bowl. Once the bread has softened, squeeze out the excess water.  Crumble and set aside.

Cut one end of the eggplants.  Wash and halve the eggplants lengthwise. With a small paring knife, score the flesh and cut the eggplant around, leaving a 1/4-inch border from the skin. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon, leaving eggplant shells or boats for baking. 

Salt the cavity of the eggplant shells.  Place the eggplant shells (cavity down) to drain for 30 minutes.

Chop the eggplant flesh.  Place the flesh into a pot filled with water.  After 10 minutes or so, drain.  Rinse few more times in a colander under running water.  Squeeze out the excess water.

Mix eggplant flesh, bread, cheese, garlic, tomatoes, green pepper, black olives, parsley and black pepper. 

 Drizzle a little of the oil over each shell.  Fill in the eggplant shells. 

Place the filled shells one next to the other in a greased pan. 

Drizzle remaining olive oil over each shell.  Cover the dish with foil, and bake until the eggplant is tender all the way through, about 40 to 45 minutes. Uncover, and bake until the top of the filling is browned and crispy, about 10 minutes more.



Stuffed Eggplants alla Casalese - Melanzane Ripiene

Stuffed eggplants are surely one of the most popular dishes in Italy and especially in my home.

Every region in Italy has developed its own variant. Many regions of Italy are trying to make the traditional character of this dish : Sicily ( Catania eggplant ), Calabria ( melangiani bend ) and Liguria boasts the best stuffed eggplant in the nation.

I would like to a boast about the casalese version. (buligname aripiene - dialect casalese). The difference is in the preparation and method of cooking.  For starters, we do not cut the eggplant lengthwise but skillfully carve them.

Ingredients for Stuffing

1 lb. sausage meat

1/2 red onion (chopped)

3 tablespoons olive oil

Eggplant interior flesh

1 cup of day-old bread

1 egg

1 chopped tomato

1/2 cup parmigiano cheese

Sprig of parsley

Salt and black pepper

Sausage meat

Breadcrumbs

Directions:

Carve the raw eggplants with a paring knife carefully removing the interior flesh so as not to break or puncture the small eggplants.

Way to carve eggplants with knife

Place the carved eggplants and interior flesh in water.

Carved eggplants in water

Interior eggplant flesh in water

Drain the interior eggplant flesh and squeeze.

Place olive oil in pan and add chopped onion.  Cook until golden. 

Add sausage meat and cook over medium heat for about half an hour, stirring often.

Add drained and squeezed eggplant flesh, tomato, parsley, salt and pepper and continue to cook for another half hour.

Close the heat.

Add day-old bread, cheese and egg and mix.  Let the stuffing cool off.

Drain the carved eggplants.

Stuff eggplants.

Add 1/2 cup olive oil in pan and simmer gently.  Turn over each eggplant every few minutes so that they cook all around.

Extra stuffing - stuff some peppers

Stuffed eggplants after sauteing - 

Make tomato Sauce:

Tomato sauce

Once the sauce cooked for 10 -15 minutes, add the eggplants.  Cook for 30 or 40 minutes.

Ready to eat.