Quinoa Stuffed Eggplant with Marsala Tomatoes

*By small eggplants, I mean about 5 inches long and 2 inches in diameter. Please keep your mind out of the gutter (haha!).

Suggested Timeline: While your eggplants are in the oven, chop your onion. Saute onion and begin cooking the quinoa. Put a pot of water on to boil to blanch tomatoes. While water is coming to a boil, your eggplants will likely need to be taken out to cool. Check on your quinoa if necessary and begin cooking the mushroom, eggplant and garlic mixture. Blanch tomatoes when water boils. I vote you mix your stuffing in the quinoa pot or rice cooker vessel to avoid dirtying another dish. That way, in that same saute pan you used first for the onions and then the mushrooms, you can take care of your tomatoes. Four dish meal? Awesome. Especially since one basically only had water in it.

Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Remove the stems from the eggplants trying to preserve as much of the eggplant as possible. Slice down the middle. Leaving about 1/4 inch around the edges, scoop out the seeds and flesh. To make this easier, score with a knife. Or, if you’re special like I am, use a grapefruit spoon–it made my life so much easier. Chop and reserve flesh for stuffing.

2. Place eggplants on baking sheet open side up. Bake until slightly tender–about 10-15 minutes depending on size. Remove from oven and let cool.

3. Split your onion in half. Dice half of the onion. The other half should be sliced and then cut in half so you have long pieces. Put the larger pieces aside.

4. Using about 1/4 cup of the chicken stock, saute diced onion until translucent. Add the diced onion and any remaining stock to your rice cooker, or, if you’re going to cook your quinoa on the stove, to your pot.

5. Place quinoa in rice cooker or pot along with the rest of the chicken stock. Add more liquid in the form of water if necessary (based on your package instructions). At this point you should have quinoa, stock, water and diced onions in your chosen vessel. Cook as directed.

6. Bring another pot of water to boil, submerge tomatoes, and cook for 2 minutes. You could probably just microwave them for a minute too. Remove from water and coarsely chop. Set tomatoes aside.

7. Place a little olive oil in your pan. Add eggplant flesh, sliced mushrooms and minced garlic. Cook until tender, and then add basil. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

8. When quinoa is done, mix with eggplant/mushroom mixture. Also add in the parmesan and mozzarella. Mix together, and check for seasoning. Set stuffing aside.

9. Add the coarsely chopped tomatoes and the large pieces of onion to the empty saute pan. Then add 1/2 cup of marsala wine. Let simmer for 10 minutes until tomatoes and onion are tender.

10. Place tomatoes, onion and any liquid on the bottom of a rectangular glass cake pan. Size will vary depending on your eggplants. Nestle all of the eggplants into the tomatoes. Then, using a small spoon, stuff them full with the quinoa filling. Sprinkle a little extra cheese on top if desired.

11. Bake for 15 minutes at 350F. Switch to broil, watch closely, and let brown.

12. Serve tomatoes with the eggplant. Be sure to take every bite of the eggplant with a bite of tomato. It’s delicious!