Onsa's Eggplant Tagine (p. 315)

We all know I'm not a big eggplant fan, but I think this is my last eggplant dish, so I'm okay with it. Plus, the pieces of eggplant and squash get fried pretty heavily olive oil, so that's always nice.

The eggplant needs to be salted and set aside to drain for about an hour -- the salt absorbs water from within the eggplant pieces which beads up to the top. After the hour has passed, rinse off the eggplant and dry them thoroughly.

This recipe is not vegetarian. Sauté small pieces of chicken with scallions in a little olive oil, and cover them with water to finish cooking the chicken thoroughly.

Once cooked, drain the water away and put the chicken and scallions in the food processor, along with capers, salt, and a little more olive oil. Blend until this has become a coarse paste.

Fry the eggplant as well as squash pieces in olive oil and set them aside to drain.

Lower the heat and cook a green pepper in the same pan until the skin begins to peel off.

To assemble the dish, layer in the half of the eggplant and squash pieces and put half of the chicken mixture on top. Sprinkle grated gruyere and top with a beaten egg. Then add the same layers again to use up the rest of the ingredients. Put the sliced, cooked pepper on top and cook for about 40 minutes.

I ate this stuffed in a toasted pita and really enjoyed it. It reminds me of a quiche and has a lot of flavor. The texture of the eggplant didn't even bother me!

gruyere cheese -- $7.05 (tons left)

chicken -- $.71

eggplant -- $3.47

green pepper -- $1.07

Total Cost of Onsa's Eggplant Tagine: $12.30

($4.10 per serving)