MaryLee's Healthy Food and Easy Cooking - Risotto Stuffed Aubergines

Hello again,

I last spoke about making Risotto. There are so many different types of Risotto that you could never get bored making them or eating them.

However, the recipes usually make enough for 4 servings or more depending on if it is a meal or starter or side dish with a meal. So you may end up with a bit left over and rather than always just warming it up again here are some suggestions.

Risotto Stuffed Aubergines

Serves 2
1 medium aubergine (egg plant) or 2 small ones
3 tbsp (tablespoon) olive oil
Risotto left over or made specifically for this dish
½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven high 400 F or 200 C. Cut aubergine in half lengthwise and gently cut out the flesh. Brush skins inside and out with olive oil place on baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes.

With flesh of aubergine place 2 – 4 tbsp light oil in skillet and heat, once oil is hot add the flesh and cook until soft, remove and add to the already prepared risotto or keep and use as a side with another meal.

Now take the risotto and stuff the cooked aubergine skins cover with grated parmesan cheese and toasted pin nuts or almonds (optional). Place on baking sheet and return to hot oven, as above, and cook until cheese has browned about 20 minutes. Be sure to check while cooking so it does not burn, may want to turn the heat down a little if too hot.

Serve, if using medium size aubergine then half each or two small ones, with fresh green salad.

Use butternut squash or acorn squash instead of aubergines. Only you will have to precook the squash, to do this cut in half, remove the seeds and place flesh side down in a oven proof pan and add about 2 cups of water to pan. Bake in hot oven until softened. Let cool a little and scoop out some flesh so you have room to add the risotto if necessary. You can either add the flesh to the risotto or save it for another meal as a side dish. Then follow the directions above.

Or you can stuff large tomatoes, same thing cut in half and remove the seeds but I would just add the risotto to the raw tomato then cook it already stuffed as above. Do the same with courgettes (zucchini).

I will provide more Risotto dishes in upcoming blogs.