Recipe - Eggplant Au Gratin

1 Eggplant (about 1 lb.)
One half pound Fresh Mushrooms
Juice of One half lemon
One half cup Milk
Pepper, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
2 tablespoon Bread crumbs
Salt to taste
3 One half tablespoon Butter
1 One half tablespoon Flour
One fourth cup Heavy cream
One fourth teaspoon Nutmeg
1 Egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 deg. 2. Peel the eggplant and cut the flesh into 1"
cubes, more or less. Drop the cubes into boiling salted water, cook about
5 minutes, just until cooked. Drain well. 3. Meanwhile, slice the
mushrooms. There should be about 2 cups. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a
skillet and add the mushroom slices. Sprinkle with salt and about 1
teaspoon lemon juice. Cook, stirring and tossing, until the mushrooms give
up their juice. Continue cooking until the liquid evaporates. Set aside.
4. Melt 1 One half tablespoons butter in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring
with a wire whisk. Add the milk and cream, stirring rapidly with the
whisk. When blended and smooth, add salt and pepper to taste, the
remaining lemon juice, nutmeg, and Tabasco to taste. Stir in the mushrooms
and eggplant. Stir in the egg. Spoon the mixture into a baking dish (an
8" pie plate works well). Sprinkle with a mixture of crumbs and cheese and
dot the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, and then
brown under the broiler.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini