Sausage Stuffed Eggplant - eggplants are roasted, stuffed with a delicious sausage and tomato mixture, topped with mozzarella cheese, and baked until bubbly perfection to make tasty personal eggplant boats.
Preheat oven to 350F. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, place on an oiled baking sheet cut sides facing up, and roast at 350F for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the eggplant from the oven and allow to cool. While the eggplant is roasting and cooling, prepare everything else. Keep the oven preheated to 350F, you'll need it for the last step!
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the sausage meat and the diced onion to the skillet and stir fry for 5 minutes, or until the sausage is mostly cooked. Break up the sausage with a spatula as it cooks.
Add the diced tomato and minced garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes - the mixture will be like a chunky sauce. Add the fresh parsley and continue to cook until most of the liquid evaporated, for about 5 more minutes. Season with salt & pepper if desired. My sausage had enough salt and spice so I didn't need to add salt or pepper.
Once the eggplant is cool enough to touch, carve out little boats from the eggplant by using a knife to carefully cut around the edge (be careful not to slice through the skin!), and then using a spoon to scoop out the eggplant flesh. Roughly chop all the eggplant flesh into small ½-1 inch pieces.
Add the breadcrumbs and the chopped eggplant chunks right into the skillet with the sausage and mix well.
Stuff the eggplants with the sausage mixture, top each eggplant boat with ¼ cup cheese, and bake at 350F for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Allow to cool a bit, and enjoy!