Gluten Free Eggplant and Pistachio Boats

Last night I had a good time hanging with my fellow Philly foodies at E's house! E writes FOODAPHILIA and hosted this round, showcasing her new apartment. I always enjoy hanging with E and Taylor (who writes MAC & CHEESE).  If all goes according to plan, next time, in October, it  will be at my crib. I plan to make an awesome pumpkin soup inside the pumpkin, and a few pumpkin-based sweets:) I'm a big fan of the orange squash :) But, the Fall is still months away and there's so much to be done before then.

I'm happy to say that in a few weeks I'll be submitting all the paperwork required to obtain my LLC license for my company, Helping Hands Books.  HHB has been my pet project for the past two years, and now that my little hobby is evolving into something much bigger. I'm experiencing a mix of positive excitement and nervous anxiety. But I've got faith it's going to work out.  I just know that soon, I'm going to need to start hiring people!

I decided to put all of my gluten free recipes together into an e-book titled "Trav's Gone Gluten Free's Kick-Butt Cookbook.

Now... I know that I posted an eggplant recipe a few posts ago, but I just had to share this one as well. I had a few more eggplants from Produce Junction, so I figured I'd experiment some more. This dish doesn't look too pretty, but it's seriously delicious. It also has a very meaty texture, so much in fact, that my brother was surprised that there wasn't any pork or beef in what he was eating. I mistakingly cut off the ends of the eggplant, making it harder to scoop out perfect bowls, but it turned out just fine:)  If you don't have pistachios on hand, you can use hazelnuts or cashews.  This meal is great! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup brown rice (cooked)
• 1 large eggplant (cut in half)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 3 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 1 small sweet green pepper (chopped)
• 1/4 pound of mushrooms (sliced)
• 3 oz. Cheddar cheese (grated)
• 3 tblsp. olive oil
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1/2 tsp. marjoram
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup raw pistachios (no shells of course)

Directions 

1. Cook your rice and set it aside to cool.
2. Scoop out the flesh from the eggplant halves and chop. 
3. Boil some water and blanch the hollowed-out eggplant boats for about 2 minutes, then drain upside down.
4. Fry the chopped eggplant flesh, onion, garlic, green pepper and mushrooms in the oil for about 5 minutes.
5. Mix in the rice, cheese, egg, marjoram, salt and pepper. 
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Arrange the eggplant boats in an ovenproof dish. Spoon the filling inside. Sprinkle over the pistachios.
8. Throw the eggplant boats into the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the filling is set and nuts are a bit golden.
9. Remove from oven and serve immediately.
10. Chow Down!!