But thank God who did help me a bit. Since there was too much stuffing for the eggplants I had, and so happened a couple of red peppers just appeared in my refrigerator without telling me, I made some stuffed red peppers as well. Gosh, I was so glad that I made extra peppers or…..I don’t know what “or” would happen.

Honestly, the stuffed red peppers did taste better than the eggplants. One thing was the natural sweetness of peppers, another reason was I did not season the inside of eggplants (which I think is hugely necessary) according to the original recipe, and so the eggplants tasted a little bit plain.

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

Directions:

Hollow out each eggplant with a melon-ball cutter or a pairing knife, leaving about 1/3 inch eggplant flesh along interior walls.

Rinse rice in a sieve under cold water until water runs clear. Drain well.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute onion and garlic, stirring occasionally, until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer 1/2 cup onion mixture to bowl with pine nuts.

Add stock and tomatoes to the covered skillet and simmer, season with salt and pepper, while stuffing eggplant.

Add rice, meat, herb, salt and pepper to bowl with onion mixture and mix well.

Sprinkle a little salt along the inside walls of eggplants. Stuff eggplant with meat mixture, being careful not to pack tightly (rice will expand during cooking).

Transfer stuffed eggplants to skillet with tomato sauce and simmer, covered, carefully turning once, until rice is cooked through, 50 minutes to one hour.

If sauce is watery, transfer eggplants to a plate and boil sauce, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, 3 to 5 minutes, then adjust seasoning if necessary. Return stuffed eggplants to sauce. Squeeze lemon over dish and sprinkle with parsley before serving.