Roasted Eggplant Stuffed with Sauteed Veggies and Free Range Beef

Roasted eggplant stuffed with seasonal veggies and free range beef

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
1 head of garlic
1 ear of corn, cut off the cob
1 red pepper roughly chopped
1 medium onion

2 tablespoons of good olive oil (maybe more, maybe less!)
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme (less if you use dried)
1 tablespoon of cumin (or to your taste)
1 pinch of chili flakes

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 350.

Slice the eggplant lengthwise and drizzling it with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Place it face down on tin foil.

Slice the top 1/8th of the head of garlic and drizzle with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. Replace the top and wrap it in tin foil.

Place eggplant and garlic in oven and roast for about 20-30 minutes.

While it is in the oven prepare the stuffing:

You only really need one large non stick pan.

Put a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of a large nonstick pan and saute the onions and a clove of garlic until tender. Then add the fresh corn off the cob, red peppers, and thyme and briefly saute. You don't want either to lose their bite so this should only take a few minutes.

Remove the corn, pepper mixture and keep the oil in the pan. Add the free range beef to the remaining oil and season with the cumin, chili peppers, salt and pepper. When the beef is almost done, add some fresh spinach and covered the pan to wilt the spinach.

At this point the eggplant is probably finished, take it out of the oven and gently remove the flesh. Open up the head of garlic and squeeze out the roasted garlic. Put the flesh and 4 cloves (or more!) into a food processor and pulse until chunky but combined.

Add the corn and pepper mixture to the beef and spinach and heat it through.

Plate the eggplant with a generous dollup of 'poor man's caviar' and then fill with this healthy mixture. For some added pizzaz grate some fresh cheese over top and return it to the oven to bubble. Serve and enjoy!