I thought it would be fun to show you a great way to use a vegetarian alternative to stuffed eggplant, but you could turn this into an easy bolognese knockoff and instead of stuffing the eggplant, you could put all of this in a pot with a little extra tomato product, ground fresh tomato, and expand the sauce and toss it with pasta. Stuffed eggplant — gorgeous — how can you have better than that?
Recipe featured on Rachael Ray in Tuscany.
Heat oven to 425 F, 220 C.
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
With a small sharp knife, score the eggplant around the edges and crosshatch the flesh so that the flesh is easier to scoop out after roasting. Generously salt the eggplant and let drain on kitchen towels for 20-30 minutes.
Spray the cut side with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the eggplant halves cut side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast for 30-40 minutes until soft and tender. Cool just long enough to handle and scoop out flesh with a spoon and finely chop. Reserve the shells to stuff later.
While eggplants roast, cover porcini in a small pot with water and bring to boil, cover and let sit for 15 minutes to reconstitute. Remove and reserve liquid. Chop mushrooms.
Saute onions with a pinch of salt over medium heat in EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Add in tomatoes and garlic then white wine and let simmer until liquid cooks out. Add the cooked eggplant, mushrooms, walnuts, about 1 cup of breadcrumbs and stir to combine.
Stir pecorino cheese and the chopped herbs into the remaining breadcrumbs and reserve.
Stuff eggplant shells with the mushroom filling and spoon a bit of the reserved mushroom broth on top. Top with more bread crumbs mixed with pecorino and herbs and return to the oven. Bake until toasted and brown.
Drizzle with EVOO and serve.
