Listen up, Colleen, and Caroline! This post is for you. You could almost (only almost, mind you) convince me to join your veggie-tarian craziness with this dish. We enjoyed it as the main course, and didn’t miss meat at all.

The choice of eggplant is very important. You don’t want fat “spongy” globes. You want thin, long “baby” eggplants. Either the purple or white Italian are ideal, but when I found dense, meaty Chinese eggplants at Global Foods, I knew they would be wonderful.
Sart by trimming the green tops off. Then split them open lengthwise. Cut a deep (but not through the skin) cross-hatched pattern in the flesh.
Placed the halves in a tight, single layer in a saute pan. Press mixture of garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, and olive oil into the cuts and spread over the top. Then drizzle with additional olive oil – partly on the eggtplants and partly in the pan. Cover the pan and turned to a medium low heat, cooking until the eggplant feels very tender when prodded with a fork.

After they are tender, cover each eggplant half with pieces of fresh sliced mozzarella. Turn up the heat to medium, recover the pan and cook until the mozzarella melts.

Serve immediately. I tried to think of a meat this could accompany as a side. I couldn’t. It doesn’t need to be paired with anything else.
This is hands-down the most delicious way I’ve ever, ever, ever (get the picture?) prepared eggplant. It needs to be enjoyed all by itself with a nice spicy red wine. As I write this post, I am overwhelmed with a desire to go out – at midnight – to find eggplant.