Recipe - Rice Eggplant Upside-Down Pie

1 One half teaspoon Olive oil
3 tablespoon Bread crumbs
1 Eggplant,cut in 1/4" slices
One fourth cup Olive oil
1 cup Rice,longgrain
One half pound Italian sausage,sweet
1 Onion,small,chopped
2 Garlic cloves,finely chopped
1 Egg,lightly beaten
3 tablespoon Tomato paste
1 teaspoon Leaf oregano,crumbled
1 teaspoon Salt
One half teaspoon Pepper
2 ounce Provolone cheese,shredded
2 ounce Mozzarella cheese,shredded
One fourth cup Pine nuts(opt)
Parsley(garnish,opt)
Cherry tomatoes(garnish,opt)

1. Preheat broiler. Grease bottom and sides of 10" pie plate with the 11/2
teaspoons olive oil. Dust with bread crumbs. Place eggplant on baking
sheet; brush both sides with One fourth cup oil. 2. Broil about 5 minutes or until
lightly browned on both sides. 3. Reduce oven to moderate (350'F). 4. Cook
rice following package directions, salt optional. Drain any excess liquid.
Reserve rice. Cover bottom and sides of prepared plate with eggplant
slices, overlapping if necessary. 5. Crumble sausage into large skillet;
lightly brown. Carefully pour off excess fat. Add onion and garlic; cook,
stirring, 3 minutes. Stir in rice, egg, tomato paste, oregano, salt,
pepper, provolone, mozzarella and pine nuts, if using. Spoon mixture over
eggplant, packing down well. Cover with foil. 6. Bake in preheated moderate
oven (350'F) for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Place serving plate over pie
plate; carefully invert. Remove pie plate. Garnish with parsley and cherry
tomatoes, if you wish. Let stand 10 minues before slicing. (Vivian
Calandiello, Totowa NJ)

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