Beef and Eggplant Casserole
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- l onion, chopped
- 1 tsp crushed Italian seasonings
- 1 medium eggplant, diced
- l lb stuffing mix
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a skillet, brown ground beef, chopped onion and Italian seasonings.
- Drain.
- Cook peeled, diced eggplant in water until tender.
- Drain
- In a baking dish, combine the ground beef, the cooked eggplant, the stuffing mix and seasoned salt.
- Top with grated cheddar cheese
- Bake for 15 minutes.
From Colander to Classroom
An Educational Experience
Eggplant - Solanum melongena
Eggplant is considered a vegetable but is botanically a fruit. Early varieties of eggplant were smaller and white, resembling eggs, hence the name.
Botanists believe that eggplant originated in placecountry-regionIndia, but Asian countries embraced it in their kitchen about 3 A.D. Eggplant arrived on the European scene when the Moors invaded placecountry-regionSpain during the 8th century. The Italians encountered it through trading with the Arabs about the 13th century. The experimental botanist Thomas Jefferson brought eggplant to the US, but it was primarily used as a table ornament until the 1900's.
Today, eggplants come in all shapes and sizes and range in color from white to lavender to dark purplish-black as well as pale green, yellow, and reddish. There are even some striped varieties. Various eggplant varieties may be used interchangeably in most recipes, unless the skin color is a specific visual factor in the dish.
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