Stuffed Eggplant with Lemon Tahini Dressing

One of my recent favorite vegetable is eggplant. This meaty purple produce absorbs flavors so well and can be prepared in a variety of different ways. You can roast, grill, fry, sauté or bake it for any type of dish. You can add it into sauces and dips or make it into a main or side dish, whatever you're in the mood for. One suggestion though, it needs to be cooked. When prepared, eggplant becomes sweet and tender but when raw, it is bitter and has absolutely no flavor.

For my eggplant dish, I decided to grill and roast the eggplant to bring out the smokiness of the eggplant and caramelize the flavors. I decided to stuff it with a chickpea, barely and shiitake mushroom and drizzle a lemon tahini dressing overtop. This dish is a great vegan/vegetarian main dish that even meat eaters will love!

Here is how I did it:

Stuffing for the Eggplant:
- 1 extra large eggplant
- 5 tbs olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 1 cloves of garlic
- 1 1/2 cups of barely
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 4 water
- 1 bouillon of vegetable/chicken/beef
- 1/2 tsp of paprika
- 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas
- 1 cup of shiitake mushrooms
- salt and pepper

Lemon and Tahini Dressing:
- 1/4 cup of tahini
- 2 tbs lemon juice
- 1/4 cup of greek yogurt
-1/4 cup of water
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place a grill pan over high heat. Take the eggplant and cut it into quarters lengthwise with the stem still on. Coat the eggplant with olive oil and place on the grill. Grill each side of the eggplant.

Once the eggplant it grill, place it on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.

Take the shiitake mushrooms and cut into small pieces. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes.

While the eggplant and shiitake mushrooms are baking, heat up a a large pan and add the remaining olive oil. Finley dice a medium onion and garlic. Place in the pan and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the barley and let it toast for a minute, like you would with risotto. Add the white wine and stir.

Once the barely has absorbed the white wine, add the water with the bouillon, one cup at a time, until the barely has fully absorbed the liquid. Season with paprika, salt and pepper. Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas and add to the barley. Finally, add the roasted shiitake mushrooms.

For the dressing, add all of the ingredients and whisk together.

To serve, take a wedge of eggplant. Cut the center open and stuff with the chickpea and barley mixture. Drizzle the tahini dressing overtop and garnish with basil.

You will have leftover barley and chickpea, but who doesn't like leftovers? Enjoy!

Anne