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From Filomena Commisso of West Babylon, New York:

My mom doesn't usually cook with measurements. She cooks with "a pinch of this and a pinch of that." She has given this recipe to her friends, but they still love hers the best. Mom came here from Calabria, Italy, in the 1950s.


Filomena's Stuffed Eggplant

8 Italian eggplants
breadcrumbs, enough to mix with rest of mixture
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
3-4 springs fresh parsley, chopped
5 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
3 eggs
1 lb chopped meat
1/2 cup pecorino romano grated cheese
olive oil

Boil eggplant until cooked. Remove eggplants from water, drain, then peel. Set eggplant skins aside. In another bowl, mix pulp of eggplants together with all of the above ingredients. Take the eggplant skins and stuff with this mixture. Make sure olive oil is hot enough before frying the stuffed eggplants (or else they will stick to the pan). If there is any leftover mixture, make hamburger patties and fry in olive oil without their skins. After they are cooked, top with tomato sauce and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Serve hot.

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More tempting recipes to follow. . .