Fresh Mushrooms With Eggplant And Tomato

1 lb Eggplant

Salt 3 tb Olive oil

1 md Onion, chopped

1 lg Celery stalk, chopped

2 md Firm mushrooms, chopped

1 1/2 ts Garlic, chopped

1 lg Tomato, chopped

2 tb Breadcrumbs

1 tb Tomato paste

5 tb Fresh parsley, chopped

1 ts Basil

Fresh lemon juice 30 md Whole mushrooms

Cut eggplant in half lengthwise. Make crisscross patterns in the pulp & sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 3o minutes. Rinse thoroughly & drain well, drying with paper towels. Peel & coarsely chop. Heat 2 tb oil in a skillet over a medium heat. Cook eggplant till softened. Let cool. Heat remining oil & cook onion, celery, choped mushrooms & garlic for 4 minutes. Add tomatoes & return eggplant to skillet. Stir in breadcrumbs, tomato paste & 3 tb parsley. Add basil. Continue to cook for 4 minutes. Just before serving, wipe mushrooms with cloth dampened in lemon juice. Carefully remove the stems. Fill each cap with some of the eggplant mixture. Sprinkle with remaining parsley & serve. You can serve the mushrooms hot by baking briefly until watm & then sprinkling with parsley. Joel Rapp, "Mother Earth's Vegetarian Feasts"