Mediterranean Stuffed Eggplant

After living in Berlin for a year, I finally went to the Maybachufer Wochenmarkt (aka the outdoor Turkish Market) in Kreuzberg. All I can say is WOW. I cannot believe I didn’t take advantage of this resource Mecca sooner! Drew and I met up with a few friends, grabbed lunch, then sat and listened to music while we gorged in olives, schafskäse and lamb schawarma. There were endless amounts of goodies at our fingertips and our eyes were in sensory overload from the vibrant colors of fresh produce, spices and colorful locals. It was the perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon. After coming to my senses, I think I made a few wise purchases. I purchased light as well as dark purple eggplants, white peppers, and a pale colored green zucchini – only because these vegetables stood out of the norm for me (ok fine - not the dark purple eggplant).  I was so excited to see what I could make out of these market prizes. I stared at my ingredients for awhile until I came to the conclusion that I would make Mediterranean stuffed eggplant. Taaadaaaah!

Mediterranean Stuffed Eggplant

(serves 2)
Ingredients 
1 eggplant
¼ cup of diced up zucchini
1 small white bell pepper (or red bell pepper if white isn’t available)
1 small yellow onion diced
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Flavored bread crumbs (Germany only offers plain so I season them myself)
1 whitecap mushroom
1 tsp of pinenuts
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 small vine tomato
¼ cup of crumbled Feta cheese
½ tsp salt
Lemon juice

Step 1: Veggie Prep
Always rinse your veggies before handling. Dice up the zucchini, garlic, onion, mushroom, tomato and pepper. Cut the eggplant lengthwise and scoop out the middle leaving approximately .125 inch  buffer to the edge of the skin. (wow I prep my eggplant like I design an ad).  Set the insides of the eggplant aside. Lightly salt the inside of the eggplant and place face down in a glass oven dish until later use. Chop up the eggplant insides into smaller pieces and sprinkle garlic powder and a ½ tsp of salt over the top.


Step 2: Sauté Veggies
In a large skillet coat bottom of pan with olive oil. Add in onion, ½ of your minced garlic, diced zucchini and diced eggplant. Sauté vegetables on a medium heat. Add in pine nuts, chopped pepper, chopped tomato and cinnamon. Mix in the tomato paste and stir thoroughly.


Step 3: Prep the Breadcrumb Paste
In a medium sized bowl add the remaining garlic, flavored bread crumbs and olive oil. Mix together until it becomes a paste-like texture (adding more olive oil until you are happy with the texture).


Step 4: Mixing
Add the diced mushroom, the sautéed vegetables and the feta cheese into the pasty-breadcrumb bowl. Mix everything together so the breadcrumbs coat the entire mixture.


Step 5: Stuffing
Stuff the breadcrumb – vegetable mixture into the shells of the eggplant. Sprinkle lemon juice on top and place them in the middle of the oven on 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for 40 minutes.


Step 6: Serve
Remove from the oven and sprinkle more lemon juice over the top the eggplant, plate and serve.

Quick peek of the Maybachufer Wochenmarkt