It’s eggplant season! Eggplants are underrated I think and when sautéed, their flavors are perfect and marry so well with other in season produce, like tomatoes which is exactly what I did here.
This dish takes about 45 minutes and is packed with flavors and nutrients. I treat the eggplant similar to spaghetti squash in this dish. The key to perfectly baking this eggplant “bowl” is to set them in a rimmed baking sheet with a little bit of water. My tomatoes and eggplant are from Tony Tomatoes in St. Louis.
Tomato and Pork Stuffed Eggplant
Prep time: 15 minutes| Cook time: 30 minutes | Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1/2 cup olive oil, divided into two parts
- 1 lb ground pork sausage from Red Barn Farm Meats
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 1 small tomato, diced
- 1/2 cup Alfredo sauce
- 2 tbs parsley
- 1 tbs minced garlic
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tbs oregano
- 4 slices of provolone cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut the eggplant in half longways so you have two long halves. Using a spoon, scoop out the inside of the eggplant and seeds.
- Take pieces of the eggplant that do not have too many seeds and cut them into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside. You’ll want to cut up about 1 to 2 cups worth of eggplant.
- Using the divided olive oil, drizzle it over the two halves of scooped out eggplants and then add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan, cook the ground pork sausage until it’s almost completely browned.
- Add the onion, tomato, sliced eggplant, garlic, thyme and oregano.
- Once the onion, eggplant and tomato begin to soften, add in the Alfredo sauce and stir until it coats everything.
- Add a little bit of water to the rimmed baking sheet and set the two eggplant bowls on it.
- Spoon the pork mixture into the bowls so each are filled to the top.
- Put the eggplants into the oven at 400 for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, pull the eggplants out and lay two pieces of provolone on each eggplant half, sprinkle with parsley and bake for another 5 minutes so the cheese melts.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately!
- Note: store in an airtight container and to reheat– bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
XO, Rachel