Stuffed Eggplant with Crab

Main Course

Recipe courtesy of The Evolution of Cajun & Creole Cuisine

Serves 6

Ingredients: 
  • 3 medium size eggplants, split lengthwise 
  • 1 eggplant, peeled and cubed ½ pound white crabmeat 
  • ½ pound ground pork 
  • ¼ pound butter 
  • 1 cup chopped onions 
  • ½ cup chopped celery 
  • ½ cup chopped red bell pepper 
  • ¼ cup diced garlic 
  • ½ cup diced tomatoes 
  • ½ cup ground andouille sausage 
  • 1 cup rich chicken stock 
  • salt and cracked black pepper to taste 
  • 1-½ cups seasoned Italian bread crumbs 
  • ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Stuffed Eggplant with Crab

Click image to enlarge

Method: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Boil the three split eggplants in lightly salted water until tender. Remove and cool under tap water. Using a metal spoon, scrape meat from inside of the halved eggplants, being careful not to tear the shell. Save the shells to be stuffed later. Add this scraped meat to the uncooked cubed eggplant and set aside. The cubed eggplant has been added to ensure that enough vegetable will be available at the time of stuffing. In a four quart sauce pot, melt butter over medium high heat. Sauté onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, tomatoes and andouille approximately ten to fifteen minutes or until vegetables are wilted.

Add ground pork and slow cook until golden brown and each grain of meat is well separated. Add small amounts of chicken stock, should the meat mixture become too dry during cooking. When mixture is browned, add eggplant, and continue to cook an additional thirty minutes until vegetables, meat and eggplant are well blended. Remove from heat and season to taste using salt and cracked black pepper. Gently fold in crabmeat and sprinkle bread crumbs into the mixture to absorb most of the liquid. Using a metal cooking spoon, stuff shells with cooked eggplant mixture, dividing equally between the six shells. Sprinkle additional bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese on top of stuffed eggplant and place on baking pan. Bake until bread crumbs and cheese are golden brown.


 

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