Stuffed Eggplant

I made extra of the filling to use for another night for a pasta sauce, this is one of my favorite things to do to make dinner easy to make on days that I work late. I love eggplant and this was wonderful.

• 2 medium - firm eggplants
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp rosemary chopped
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups of your favorite red sauce
• 1 tsp chopped basil
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Cut the eggplant in half, score the flesh and cut around the eggplant leaving 1/4" border around the skin. Scoop out the flesh
3. Chop the flesh, season with salt and leave on paper towels to drain
4. Coat the inside of eggplant with olive oil, salt and pepper
5. Cook 15 minutes, remove from oven and reduce heat to 350
6. Heat olive oil in pan, add beef and brown.
7. Crumble in eggplant flesh, garlic, salt and pepper and cook till softened about 8 minutes.
8. Add tomato paste, sauce, rosemary and basil. Let cook about 5 minutes.
9. Scoop into eggplant and top with mozzarella cheese
10. Bake about 10-15 minutes till cheese is melted