You say tomayto... I say tomahto....

Last week my friend Ben brought me a tomato from his garden (shameless plug - that's Ben from "Hilltop Herbs" in Alexandria - catch him at the Clarendon Farmer's Market on Wednesday afternoon or the Old Town Farmer's Market on Saturday morning).

I had already picked some rosemary from my garden...


And then this past Saturday I stopped in at Ellwood Thompson's and picked up this lovely eggplant , known to some as the "sacred vegetable".



Now, a number of years ago, I picked up a cookbook in London with an excellent stuffed eggplant recipe but I didn't have all the ingredients this evening. On the other hand, I tend to be a culinary pirate. I see recipes more as sort of...guidlines... So without further ado, I sliced the eggplant in half and hollowed the halves out. I sautéed some onions in olive oil and added the eggplant flesh along with some mushrooms and some chopped cashews. I let that cook for about 10 minutes and then added breadcrumbs mixed with oregano and rosemary as well as a cup of quinoa. I stuffed the eggplants, topped them with the loveliest of slices from the wonderful tomato which Ben brought me, covered it all with a nice little bit of cheese (Chimay fromage) and baked it at 350ºF for about 45 min. C'est magnifique!!!