Stuffed eggplant

Please ignore the fact that this is eggplant -- it is far from your everyday eggplant. This has a wonderful variety of colors, textures and flavors (the jalapeños provide a nice kick). I got the idea and roasting instructions for stuffed eggplant from a recipe in the Washington Post (I love Wednesdays because that is Food day in the paper). I used a bunch of ingredients from the stuffed tomatoes that I made in October. I also substituted rice, which is in many stuffed veggie recipes, with quinoa, primarily because I didn't have any rice in my pantry. Overall, a tasty and filling dinner.

Stuffed eggplant

1 large eggplant

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

1 1/2 T pine nuts

2 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 jalapeño pepper, diced

6 cherry tomatoes, chopped

about 1 cup cooked quinoa (1/2 cup uncooked)

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

pinch of ground cinnamon

sea salt and black pepper to taste

bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese for topping

olive oil for sautéing and drizzling over top

Use a fork to poke holes all over the eggplant and place in a pan lined with foil. Roast at 425 degrees for about 35 minutes. While the eggplant is roasting, sauté onions, garlic and pine nuts in olive oil, and boil quinoa in covered saucepan with 1 cup water until water is gone.

Let the eggplant cool, cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the centers, leaving about 1/2 inch around the edge. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees. Chop the eggplant centers and mix with quinoa, onion, garlic, pine nuts, peppers, tomatoes, parsley, cumin, salt, pepper and cinnamon. Pile mixture into eggplant halves and top with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Drizzle olive oil over top and roast for about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 or 15 minutes before serving.