Stuffed Baby Eggplants

Stuffed Baby Eggplants w/Tomato-Eggplant Sauce

Ingredients:

2 lbs small or baby eggplants

1/2 lb ground beef

1 cup chopped parsley

2 cups beef broth 

1 can tomato sauce (29 oz)

1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz)

1 T tomato paste

1 cup uncooked white rice

1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 tea allspice

1 tea dill weed

1 medium onion, diced small 

1 clove of garlic, pressed or minced

2 T olive oil

4 tea salt

2 tea black pepper

In a medium bowl, combine rice, ground beef, diced tomatoes, parsley, 3 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, allspice, dillweed, and 1/2 of the onion.

Mix well using a spoon or your fingers and set aside.

Wash and dry the eggplants. Cut the tops of the eggplants off and set aside.

Using a small spoon or apple corer, scoop out the flesh from the insides of the eggplants. Reserve one cup of the flesh. Make sure not to break the skin otherwise the filling will leak out during cooking.

The eggplants should look like this:

Using your fingers or a spoon, carefully fill each eggplant 3/4 of the way full with the stuffing.

They should not be overstuffed as the rice needs to expand during cooking.

Place the tops back on to the eggplants and place in a medium pot. Try to pack them in so they don't fall over. If needed, can use a toothpick to help keep the tops on. Pour the beef broth into the pot until it reaches halfway up the sides of the eggplant; do not submerge them completely!

Turn heat up to high until broth starts boiling, then decrease to medium; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the eggplants are cooking, heat olive oil in a small sauce pan until shimmering. Add the other half of the  diced onion and the reserved eggplant flesh (if it is too chunky, chop it up) as well as 1 tea salt. Turn heat down to medium, stir and cover. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring often to make sure it is not burning, until the onions are translucent and the eggplant is soft.  Add the tomato paste and garlic.

Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the garlic is fragrant.

Add the tomato sauce and 1 tea pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Plate the eggplants and serve with rice; drizzle the sauce over the rice and the eggplants.

Meatball Subs

1/2 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus extra if desired
3 tea kosher salt
1 tea freshly ground black pepper
1 T olive oil
1 slice white sandwich bread
1/4 cup milk
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 small can (8oz) tomato sauce
3 T fresh chopped basil
2 cloves garlic, lightly chopped
2 large deli sub rolls
6 slices provolone cheese

Heat oven to 350°.  In a food processor, place diced tomatoes, garlic, basil, 1 and 1/2 tea kosher salt, and 1/2 tea black pepper.  Process on low for 5 seconds, until tomatoes are just slightly chunky.

In a medium sized pot, add tomato mixture from food processor and the can of tomato sauce.  Bring to a light boil over medium high heat then turn heat down to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes.  Wash, clean, and dry the food processor - you will be using it again.

In a small bowl, make a panade by adding 1/4 cup milk to the white sandwich bread.

Let the bread soak in the milk for 1 minute, then squeeze out the excess milk from the bread.

In the food processor, add the ground chuck and ground pork, the parmesan cheese, 1 and 1/2 tea kosher salt, 1/2 tea black pepper, and the panade.

Mix meat together in food processor by using ten one-second pulses.  Do not overmix!  After 5 pulses, if the mixture isn't coming together very well, use a spoon to scrape the sides of the processor and mix manually, then pulse 5 more times using the processor.

Do not over mix the meat.  It will come out gummy if  you do.

Take meat mixture out of food processor and make 10 approximately golf ball-sized meatballs.  Roll the meat balls in your palm to get a good round shape.

In a large cast-iron skillet, heat 1 T oil over medium high heat until shimmering.  Add the meatballs and brown well on all sides.

Do not be afraid to get a good dark brown on the meatballs - that's where all the flavor is.

After the meatballs have browned on all sides, place the skillet in the oven and cook for 15 minutes (check on them after 10 minutes).  After they are finished, take the skillet out and turn the oven to broil.

Meatballs after finished cooking in oven.

Place the meatballs into the sauce and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Slice the sub rolls and place on a baking sheet or cookie pan lined with foil.  Put under broiler and very lightly toast the bread.

After the bread has finished toasting, place 5 meatballs in each sub, then ladle the tomato sauce over them.

Sprinkle extra parmesan on top, if desired.

Place 3 slices of provolone on each sub, then put under broiler until the cheese melts.

There you have it.  The reason the meatballs are so good are because of the panade, which helps to bind them together but doesn't dry them out. You should also never make meatballs with just ground beef, the pork gives them a wonderful flavor.