And here I am with the first of two eggplant recipes I wanted to propose to you! The first: Stuffed Eggplant Boats with tuna, tomato, and mozzarella is very easy to prepare. Few ingredients, few easy steps, and we will have dinner ready. Also ideal for lunch to bring to the office in one of those nice heatable lunchboxes with USB charge. If you want to buy one, here’s mine (click here to see it). I used it in my old job and it was perfect!
Back to the eggplant recipe, I chose to use tuna because it’s one of my favorite ingredients for stuffing things, like for the stuffed tomatoes with tuna. You can find the recipe on the blog or by clicking the blue link you see! They are delicious, tasty, and easy to prepare. That said, I’ve always eaten stuffed eggplants with only minced meat, and this has never convinced me much. Let’s also say that I’ve been eating eggplants for just two years, so I still need to figure out how and which recipe I prefer. So far, I can tell you that I prefer them with fish, as in the case of the Eggplant Parmesan with Grilled Eggplants and Salmon that I served some time ago to my Paciccio and Lauretta.
Another recipe I tried with eggplants is the Baked Eggplant Cutlet, also an easy and good recipe, perfect if you’re in a hurry and don’t want to go crazy grilling and then baking. I recommend it if you have children, this way you’ll have a complete dish with meat and vegetables.
Before moving on to the Stuffed Eggplant with Tuna Recipe, I want to remind you that on the blog you can find many ideas for preparing good, simple, economical dishes that will always be a pleasure to serve at the table! Below you will also find other recipes with Eggplants and Zucchini that I love!
I also remind you that I’m waiting for you on the YouTube Channel of Bea’s Recipes with many other recipes besides this one for the Stuffed Eggplant Boats with tuna and mozzarella! Subscribe to the channel by clicking here!
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Fall
- Energy 340.05 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 22.81 (g) of which sugars 5.39 (g)
- Proteins 30.50 (g)
- Fat 14.94 (g) of which saturated 7.65 (g)of which unsaturated 4.68 (g)
- Fibers 5.46 (g)
- Sodium 752.57 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 250 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants (medium-small round)
- 5.6 oz tuna in water (drained)
- 1 mozzarella (3.5 oz)
- 3 tablespoons tomato puree (generous, in my case with tomato pieces)
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper
- to taste breadcrumbs
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste oregano (a few leaves)
- to taste basil (a few leaves)
- to taste marjoram (a few leaves)
Tools
- 1 Cutting Board
- 2 Knives
- 1 Oven
- Parchment Paper
- 1 Baking Pan
- 3 Small Bowls
- 1 Plate
- 1 Pot
- 1 Stove
Steps for Stuffed Eggplant Boats Recipe
As you can see from the video recipe I published on the YouTube channel of Bea’s Recipes the steps to follow are few and very simple! Let’s see them together!
Place a pot on the stove and bring water with a pinch of coarse salt to a boil. Then proceed as follows.
Take a wooden cutting board and after washing the eggplants well, cut them in half with a smooth-edged knife. Now, hollow out the inside of the eggplant, keeping it aside in a bowl. Be careful not to break the eggplant, do not create holes. We are ready to boil the eggplants for a maximum of 5 minutes in the pot with boiling water. At this point, proceed as follows.
Preheat the oven to 356 degrees Fahrenheit, you can choose either the static mode like in my case since the fan doesn’t work, or the fan mode. The important thing is the temperature that will allow us to quickly cook the stuffed eggplants with tuna.
Drain the eggplants once blanched and quickly cool them under the running tap water in the sink. This will stop the cooking and prevent them from becoming too soft.
Prepare the filling for the eggplants. Take the bowl where we left the inside part taken from the two eggplants. Add the tuna after draining it well. Cut the mozzarella into chunks and add them to the bowl. Keep a tiny part of both the tuna and mozzarella aside, as they will be used for the final decoration of the stuffed eggplant boat.
Add two handfuls of breadcrumbs to the bowl, then add the herbs: a few leaves of basil, marjoram, and oregano. Then, with the help of a spoon, add the tomato puree, in my case with chunks. Work everything with the spoon first and then with your hands. You need to check if the mixture is sticky enough or too dry. You need to be careful; the filling must be nice and moist. If it is not, add another spoonful of tomato puree.
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking pan, arrange the four eggplant boats and fill them with the tuna, tomato, and mozzarella filling we just prepared. Apply a slight pressure with your hands to make the filling adhere well to each part of the eggplant. In the video recipe, this step is very well shown, you have to get your hands dirty, you see!
Then arrange on the surface the two ingredients we kept aside, namely that little tuna and that little mozzarella we didn’t add to the bowl with the tomato. Add them on top gently, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and bake. The Eggplant Boats need to bake for 25 to 30 minutes at most since we already blanched them in hot water.
Once ready, all that’s left is to serve the Stuffed Eggplants. An easy and delicious main dish, perfect from spring to fall! You can make many variations to this recipe in terms of fillings, but my favorite remains tuna and tomato. I remind you that I’m waiting for you on the blog’s social channels and wish you a good appetite!!!
Preservation of Stuffed Eggplants:
You can preserve the Stuffed Eggplant Boats in the refrigerator, once cooled, in a container with a lid. Do not keep them for more than two days; if you plan to consume them after several days, it is best to freeze them. Before serving them, remember to place them in the refrigerator the night before and heat the oven to 356 degrees Fahrenheit. This step is important, as they need to receive heat to warm up but should not dry out too much.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
How do I replace the tuna? Or the mozzarella?
Well, then the tuna with some ground meat, it’s the first thing that comes to mind. Or with drained and chopped mackerel. The mozzarella with a soft cheese, such as stracchino or certosa. If you’re lactose intolerant, choose those without lactose. You can also use a spreadable cheese, but I haven’t personally tested this variant yet, so I wouldn’t know what to recommend.
