Seafood Stuffed Eggplant

By t1bishop

Seafood Stuffed Eggplant
You can assemble and refrigerate the eggplant halves up to a day in advance, then bake just before serving. If the stuffed eggplants are cold, you may need to cook them an extra five minutes.

Ingredients

• 3 medium eggplants, each cut in half
• lengthwise (about 3 pounds)
• Cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped 33%-less-sodium ham
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup beer
• 1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped
• 2 1/2 ounces day-old French bread or other firm white bread
• 6 tablespoons (1 1/2-ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
• teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat oven to 4250.
2. Score cut side of each eggplant half in a crisscross pattern; lightly coat cut sides of eggplant halves with cooking spray. Place eggplant halves,
cut sides down, on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Turn eggplant halves over; bake an additional 10 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes. Remove pulp from eggplant, leaving a (1/4 inch-thick) shell. Place
eggplant shells on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Chop pulp; set aside.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 3500.
4. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add ham, 1/2 cup onion, bell pepper, and garlic; saute 5 minutes. Add reserved
eggplant pulp and beer; cook 10 minutes or until most of liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally.
Stir in shrimp; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat.
5. Place bread in a food processor; process until coarse crumbs form. Add breadcrumbs, 3 tablespoons cheese, green onions, basil, tarragon, rind, salt, and black pepper to eggplant mixture; stir gently to combine. Mound about 1/2 cup shrimp mixture into each eggplant shell. Sprinkle each with 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese. Bake at 3500 for
15 minutes or until thoroughly heated and shrimp are done. Yield: 6 servings (serving size: I stuffed eggplant half)
Seafood Stuffed Eggplant