Stuffed eggplant

One of the nice things about buying meat from the farm is that it's really exciting to have lamb again after many month absence from the table. Last week we picked up two locally grown lamb from the butcher (cut to order), so I spent several hours packing it up using my vacuum sealer (one of the best purchases I've ever made - really protects the meat in the freezer). Needlesss to say after the long lamb drought we had chops several nights in a row!

Last night I'd defrosted some lamb mince thinking I'd make moussaka, but it was just too hot to turn the oven on. Smitten kitchen to the rescue! I made these stuffed eggplants, and they were truly delicious. I eliminated the pine nuts (don't like 'em), used veg stock, replaced the rice with pearled spelt, and used a saudi baharat spice mix rather than allspice. Served with a dollop of plain yoghurt, and some flat leaf parsley. I made a side salad as well but we didn't need it.

I think it would be easy to modify this recipe for a vegetarian version, perhaps with mushroom.....