Stuffed Eggplant

• 1 small eggplant, about 5 inches long
• 1/2 cup cooked rice
• 1/2 cup cooked meat (lamb, preferably, or pork, beef, leftover meatloaf), chopped fine
• 2 scallions, diced fine
• 2 teaspoons toasted pine nuts
• 2 canned tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), squeezed, or, if in season, 2 small fresh tomatoes, diced
• Pinch of cinnamon
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs
• Extra-virgin olive oil

1. Prick the eggplant all over with a fork, and put it in a preheated 425 oven for 35 minutes.
2. Remove, and let cool.
3. Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise, and scoop out the flesh, leaving a comfortable border of skin and flesh all around.
4. Chop the eggplant flesh you have extracted, and mix it in a bowl with the rice, meat, scallions, pine nuts, and tomatoes.
5. Season with cinnamon, salt, and pepper.
6. Spoon this filling back into the eggplant shells, mounding it up in the middle, and arrange the halves in a shallow baking pan that just holds them.
7. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top, and drizzle onto them a little olive oil.
8. Bake in a preheated 400 oven for 3035 minutes, until tender and browned on top.
9. Stuff green peppers or zucchini in the same way, using the same general proportions.
10. I like to blanch both these vegetables for a couple of in boiling water before I fill them and bake them.

eggplant, rice, lamb, scallions, nuts, tomatoes, cinnamon, salt, fresh breadcrumbs, extravirgin olive oil

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/stuffed-eggplant-378402 (may not work)