Italian Sausage Stuffed Eggplant

This is another recipe modified from a cooking site called ClosetCooking.  The guy apparently has a micro-home and closet-sized kitchen with some significant culinary talent.  I felt he over-complicated some things and tweaked the recipe somewhat.  You will need your own Italian tomato sauce for this recipe, or a jarred variety.  Our go-to Italian sauce is generally Classico Tomato Basil, which I still think is very good.  However, we're being mindful of our sugar intake lately, and finding products on the shelves these days without added sugar is proving to be a challenge.

For this recipe, My Number One Fan found a jarred Italian sauce without added sugar, bearing in mind that tomatoes have some naturally occurring fructose, which is sugar.  The product we used was pretty good and worked well with this dish, Delallo Pomodoro Fresco Tomato Basil Sauce.  Click here to see it.  You can sometimes find Italian sausage in bulk and if you do, buy that.  If not, get the Italian sausage in casings, and then remove the casings for this dish.

Ingredients
2 medium eggplants
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb Italian sausage, bulk
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 tsp garlic, minced
3 cups Italian sauce (25.5 oz jar)
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade
olive oil cooking spray (like, Pam)
salt & pepper to taste

The Recipe
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the eggplants length-ways in half.  Using a melon-baller or grapefruit spoon, hollow out the insides of the eggplant to a depth about 1/2 inch from the peel, being careful not to penetrate it.  Reserve 1/2 of the eggplant "meat" and discard the rest.  Chop the remaining eggplant well.

Spray the eggplant shells with olive oil spray.  The original recipe called for olive oil to be brushed on, but I found this difficult to do.  The eggplant absorbs olive oil like a sponge, so brushing was almost futile.  Spraying it with an olive oil cooking spray was infinitely easier and efficient.

Put the eggplant  with the inside facing up in a shallow dish also sprayed with cooking spray and pop in the oven for 12-15 minutes.  Be careful not to overcook the eggplant or the sides will start to crater on you.

In the meantime over medium heat, saute the onion in olive oil until they start to turn translucent, then add the eggplant and saute until it collapses.  Next, add the Italian sausage and garlic.  Cook until all the pink in the sausage is gone.  Add 2 cups (2/3 of the jar) of tomato sauce and stir until the dish is bubbly.  Stirring frequently, cook for 2-3 minutes more to allow the meat sauce mixture to thicken. Check for seasoning.  I doubt it will need salt, but a couple of turns of freshly ground black pepper is advised.

Pull the eggplant shells out of the oven and stuff each with 1/4 of the meat sauce mixture.  Top with even amounts of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Pour the rest of the tomato sauce (about a cup) in the bottom of the shallow dish with the stuffed eggplant shells on top and bake in the 400 degree oven for another 25-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and turning brown and bubbly.

Top with the chiffonade of  fresh basil and more Parmesan if you wish.