Awesome Eggplant

Many years ago, when if you had told me I'd marry an American and move to Los Angeles I would have scoffed, my mother and I made this eggplant dish for Canadian Thanksgiving.

It was just the two of us, and we thought eggplant was an excellent celebratory dish. Cooked this way, a recipe from Annie Somerville's book Fields of Greens, we were right.

The recipes in this book are a little more complicated than I usually make, but that adds to the layers of flavors that make these dishes extra special. It comes together in about an hour.

Roll forward many years, and my American husband Larry and I returned home to Los Angeles from our trip back East last week to find one of our pathetic eggplant plants actually had a large purple eggplant. This was cause for celebration, so I dug out this recipe. Awesome!

Awesome Eggplant
1 eggplant (3/4 lb)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced onion
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 tbsp white wine
2 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp almonds, slivered
3 tbsp parmesan

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut eggplant in half lengthwise. Scoop out the center, leaving about 1/4 inch shell. If the flesh is very seedy, discard some of the seeds. Cut the flesh into dice.

Combine the tbsp olive oil and small clove of garlic. Brush the insides of the eggplant shells with this, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put cut side down on a cookie sheet. Bake until tender, 10-15 minutes.

The bottom eggplant is the one we ate. The upper
one will be made into dinner later in the week.

Sauté onion in 1 tbsp oil with salt and pepper for about 5 minutes until tender. Add the diced eggplant and 1 minced clove of garlic. Sauté 5 minutes until the eggplant is tender. It will be dry and sticking a little to the pan, that's okay. Transfer to a bowl.

In the same skillet, heat 1 tbsp oil over high heat. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper. Stir occasionally. When golden brown, about 5 minutes, add the remaining clove of garlic and cook another couple of minutes. Add the wine and simmer 1-2 minutes until the pan is almost dry.

Toss the mushrooms with the eggplant mixture. Scrape the pan well so all the browned parts are added. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and almonds. Stir in all but 1 tbsp parmesan. Place the eggplant shells in a casserole dish and mound in the filling. Cover and bake 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and bake uncovered 5 minutes.

Serves 3-4 as a main course.

Warm leftovers in the oven - they are almost more delicious than the original.