Imam Bayildi

Imam bayildi is a Turkish dish whose name translates roughly as "the imam
fainted", though I prefer the more poetic and probably more accurate
translation: "the imam swooned."  There are several explanations for the
name, including "the imam swooned when he tasted this wonderful dish" and
"the imam fainted when he was denied this wonderful dish".  Another explanation
is given in the recipe!

For two persons -- the recipe doubles easily.
1 "medium sized" eggplant, cut in half lengthwise.
  You are going to eat half an eggplant, plus additions to the filling, so a
  typical American-sized eggplant that you find in the store is too large --
  in Turkey, eggplants are usually about four inches long and a few inches
  wide.  If an American-sized eggplant is all you can find, just don't use
  all of the body of the eggplant when making the filling, and when stuffing
  the eggplant, instead of having it mound up and overflow, it will just fill
  the shell nicely.
1 or 2 whole garlic cloves, peeled.
1/4 red bell pepper.
  Slice into narrow strips and then slice each strip into three or four
  pieces.
1 medium sized onion.
  First slice the onion into rings and then cut each smaller ring in half
  and the larger rings into quarters.
1 tomato, coarsely chopped.
1 small handful of fresh parsley.
A goodly squeeze of lemon juice.
1/2 tsp salt.
  I don't actually measure this, I just put it in the palm of my hand -- it
  might be a bit more.
A sprinkling of black pepper.
Olive oil -- lots!
  At least 1/4 cup all told, and possibly as much as 3/8ths of a cup.  I use a
  high quality general grade of olive oil, like Berio or Bertolli.  It isn't
  worth using pricey "extra virgin," since the flavor of the oil is too strong
  and would mostly be lost amongst all the other strong flavors.  The other
  explanation of why the imam swooned is that he fainted when he saw how much
  expensive olive oil was used in making this dish!

Make the filling -- this takes 1-1/2 hours if you really cook things as slowly
as you should:
  The filling can be made ahead of time, but don't do it too far in advance,
  as eggplant doesn't do well sitting out after it is cooked.

  Start by gently frying the red pepper and whole garlic in oil (1/8th cup)
  over low heat.  The idea is to soften the red pepper up, not to blacken the
  skins, so you want to use very low heat and this will take some time (like
  20 or more minutes).

  About five minutes before the red pepper is ready, remove the garlic (earlier
  if it starts to burn) and discard.  Then add in the onion and cook it, also
  over low heat, until it is very soft.

  While the onion is cooking remove the eggplant from its shell, trying to
  leave about 1/8" or a little more attached to the skin -- you are going to
  refill the shell, so you get the idea.  I use a curved grapefruit knife for
  this task, but it doesn't matter how you get it out because... cut the body
  of the eggplant into julienned pieces about the same size as the red pepper
  pieces.

  Boil the eggplant shells for about 10 minutes until they are soft.

  Remove the pepper and onion with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl, leaving
  as much oil in the pan as possible.  Add in another 1/8 cup of oil.

  Saute the eggplant until it is soft and mushy.  You may need to add yet more
  oil, as eggplant is an oil sponge.  When the eggplant is almost done (most of
  the absorbed oil will have juiced out), add in the chopped tomatoes and cook
  for a few minutes more, boiling away some of the liquid.  Finally, with a
  potato masher, mash the eggplant/tomato mixture a bit, but don't turn it
  into total mush.

  Add the eggplant/tomato mixture to the red pepper and onions, add in the
  parsley, lemon juice and salt and pepper and mix well.  Stuff the mixture
  into the eggplant shells.  It should overflow if you have medium sized
  eggplants, but fill the shell nicely if you have American-sized eggplants
  and used about 2/3rds of the inside.

Final preparation:
  Place the stuffed eggplant halves in a shallow baking dish and add a little
  water to the bottom.  Drizzle the top with olive oil and bake in the oven
  at 350 for 30 or so minutes.

Traditionally imam bayildi is served only slightly warm, not hot out of the
oven.  Personally, I prefer it somewhat hotter, but not scalding.  Spoon a
little of the liquid from the bottom of the baking dish over the tops of the
stuffed eggplants at the last moment.