cookin'

we made an eggplant dish for dinner the other night, pictured here, prior to being baked:

it is a variation on a dish from the cookbook called "vegetables" published by the culinary institute of america-- the actual recipe is for roasted eggplant stuffed with curried lentils... we made a more plain version. here is our variation:

1/2 cup brown lentils

2 cups vegetable broth

1 large (?) eggplant

1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for greasing pan

1/4 cup minced cippolini onion

2 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

salt and pepper

1. bring lentils and broth to a boil-- cover an reduce heat to low. simmer until lentils are tender-- 25-30 minutes. remove and set aside, keeping lentils in cooking liquid.

2. preheat oven to 350. grease 8x8 baking pan. cut eggplant in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh, leaving 1/2" to 3/4" thick wall. mince scooped flesh and set aside. put eggplant halves in dish, skin side down.

3. heat large skillet over medium heat. add onion and garlic. saute until onion is golden brown, 6-8 minutes. add minced eggplant, cinnamon, salt and pepper-- saute 5 minutes.

4. drain lentils but save cooking liquid. add lentils to eggplant mix and enough cooking liquid so that vegetables moisten, and simmer until liquid is reduced-- 6-8 minutes.

5. fill hollowed eggplant with mix. cover with foil and bake until tender-- 35-40 minutes.

serve and enjoy! it's also good reheated... we had some for lunch the following day!