I mentioned in my previous post that along with St. Valentine’s Day, we also celebrate St. Trifun, the Guardian of wine and wine makers. As a matter of fact, St. Valentine’s Day is a fairly new phenomenon in many parts of the world, including Macedonia, but it has somehow grown to be celebrated amongst the younger generations along with St. Trifun.
In honor of St. Trifun, on the 14th of February a great celebration takes place in many city squares in Macedonia with a program that includes agricultural and cultural happenings, and the famous Wine Fair. The priests say a prayer, and the pruning season is symbolically marked with the pruning of the three church wine grapes.
Here’s a photo of our little grape vine in our backyard:
Pruning – February 14, 2011:
Throughout the day we prepare and serve Macedonian specialties, sing Macedonian songs, and taste delicious Macedonian wines!
Sausage Stuffed Eggplant is one of those specialties that we enjoyed last night for dinner. Made with our very own homemade sausage, lots of garlic, and a touch of Мајчина Душица – Mother’s Soul, or Thyme, as it is called in this part of the world.
You will need:
- 4 eggplants, halved lengthwise
- 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 pound of sausage, your choice of sausage, but I recommend one with a bit of heat, YUM – casings removed
- 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Scoop out the flesh of the eggplant, chop, and set aside.
- Season the empty shells with salt and pepper, and coat with some olive oil; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium high heat.
- Put in the sausage and garlic, and saute until sausage is evenly brown.
- Mix in the chopped eggplant.
- Season with parsley, thyme, salt and pepper.
- Stuff the mixture into the eggplant shells and place them in a baking sheet filled with 1/4 inch water.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Take out and sprinkle cheese on top.
- Bake for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
Serve with your favorite red wine.
This looks really good! I’m generally not a fan of any stuffed vegetables, but I’d probably enjoy this!!!
I’m not sure why I’ve never thought about stuffing an eggplant. It’s an incredible idea! I love it! Yours look amazeballs. I think I’ll have to make this soon!
Omg, I freakin love eggplant. Never stuffed it though, what a magnificent idea!!
There’s something about stuffed vegetables, peppers, eggplant, that is just comforting. This is great and warm and delicious! And… God bless and keep Saint Trifun!
Love it!
This looks really good! It looks like you used pretty small eggplants, correct?
Medium-sized I would say… I find that the smaller ones have a better taste.
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You had me at stuffed.. I love eggplant and I love sausage and this meal just sounds absolutely delicious on so many fronts! I can’t wait to make this!
This is a great egg plant dish ! never thought you could stuff with sausage ..
A holiday that celebrates WINE? Um, best holiday ever!
I think you just made me drool on my keyboard. Can’t wait to try this one out, lady!
Great job with this posting…this is something very dear to my heart and something that i grew up on in an italian household…thanks for the great posting…
big al
BTW….those pretzels look fantastic too!
Thanks! I made those myself … they are so good!
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This looks incredible… I love that you stuffed it with sausage. Definite must try!
Love eggplant, love sausage, love them together. Yum!
Thanks for telling us all about St. Trifun Day, I never knew about that before. Your stuffed eggplant looks totally scrumptious!
MMM, that looks spectacular. I’m going to have to buy an eggplant to make this for dinner next week. Actually, it’d probably be great for a night I teach a seminar because it’d reheat well? Thanks!! Kate @ kateiscooking
I love learning about your Macedonian food and customs. This dish sounds so hearty and delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Oh how splendid! I ahven’t made eggplant since the summer. Must rectify that. I loved the info on the holiday.
I’ve had eggplant once and it was plain and boring. Adding sausage and cheese is a great idea. Thank you, now I’ll try it again. And that roll looks delicious. Hope you had a fun St. Trifun’s Day!
Oh! This looks like a tasty meal with all those garlic cloves and topped with mozzarella. Great looking dish!
It’s been so long ago since I heard thyme called Majcina Dusica! I love this plant, especially when it blooms! Stuffed eggplants are devine, thank you for sharing your story Kate
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen stuffed eggplant before. This looks so good!
Perfection! Love love love this! Thanks for sharing Kate!
Looks wonderful! Anything stuffed with sausage is a winner in my books. I love hearing about the Macedonian traditions! Thank you for sharing!
Wow, this looks incredible! I want to make this asap! I love eggplant, and the fact that it’s stuffed with sausage means that my hubby will love it too.
Wow this dish looks amazing! Sausage and eggplant combo sounds wonderful!
These look great – wonderful photography and interesting background story. We had a Multicultural Festival in Canberra last weekend and I am disappointed that they didn’t serve these at the Macedonian tent.
Shari from http://www.goodfoodweek.blogspot.com
I love the combination of eggplant and sausage – looks delicious! I like the idea of celebrating the patron saint of wine makers!
“St. Trifun, the Guardian of wine and wine makers” — I don’t think he gets enough credit because I am very thankful for him watching over my wine.
Love the eggplant and sausage combo!
The combination of flavours is just irresistible!
What are three church wine grapes?
The grapes grown in the church’s yard, in this instance 3 churches, and it means the wine is natural, made from grapes of the vine, and not corrupt. That is the same wine that is used in communion. The older churches, or monasteries, in Macedonia were always accompanied with a plot of land and that land was used to grow many fruits, including grapes.
I didn’t know about st.trifun. How cool!
Your eggplant looks soooo good. I can’t believe i even said that coz eggplants are not my favorite veggie. But, wow! I would love to try that out.
This sounds like a great dish! And what a great additional holiday to celebrate! Your grape vines are gorgeous!
Ooh, these look fabulous, Kate…topped with that cheesy goodness…mmmmm.
Is this scrumptious post or what?! ^_^
Perfect flavor combination… Hmmm..just yummy Look Kate! ^_^
That sounds amazing. I am bookmarking this recipe!
I love this recipe!
I rarely cook eggplant myself, but your recipe looks increadibly – so comforting and savoury!! I would definitely give that a try!!
This sounds amazing! I’ve never seen stuffed eggplant before but now I want to give it a go!
Yummy!!!
I love eggplant. I’m so jealous you have a backyard and are able to grow stuff. I live in apartment complex in Florida but if I had a backyard not sure I have the green thumb for it.
I love your recipe. Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables and making such a yummy dish with it sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
looks good
lovley pictures
We used to have this as kids growing up. My mother used zucchinis back then because they grew to the size of baseball bats on steroids and called them zucchini boats. She would make flags from straws or toothpicks and paper. Somehow it doesn’t have the same appeal as an adult. Red wine, sausage and eggplants gives it a much classier twist! Looks great
Mmmm….so good. I’m so used to seeing stuffed zucchini…stuffed eggplant is a great change of pace.
remind me to thank St. Trifun! that eggplant stuffed with sausage looks simply amazing! I would love to give that wonderful dish a try. I do enjoy eggplant but have never thought of stuffing it!
thanks for a great recipe!
Dennis
Hi Kate!!
Congratulations! You have an award waiting for you! You can pick up your award at:
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Take care,
Lori
Wow this looks so good! I love eggplant and never thought about stuffing them like this. Really looks tasty… I’m a big fan of eggplant parmigiana and also baked eggplant with pasta sauce and melted mozzarella. This I gotta try…
It’s great to learn about St. Trifun celebration! And the sausage stuffed eggplant sounds amazingly delicious!
*Saved* Will definitely be making this. We are huge eggplant parm fans so I’m sure my husband would love it.
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I love that this recipe has so few ingredients. It looks delicious and I don’t have to go all over town finding items to make it!
This is something I haven’t made in a loooong while, thanks for the reminder! It looks absolutely delicious!
::sigh:: Now you’re taking me back to my childhood and being forced to eat eggplant. The only thing I could tolerate it in is still my favorite dish in the world; moussaka. When my mom stuffed eggplant, I rebelled. Of course, she was making dolma, not this amazing looking boat filled with sausage and covered in cheese. That might have changed things!
I love eggplants and this dish looks amazing , I too have posted an eggplant recipe on my blog .
Oh…I love eggplant and sausage. But I never thought to put them together in a baked dish. Your food just inspired me to try for next get-together.
Just want to share with you another eggplant recipe.
http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes/main-courses/eggplant-pizza
I just love eggplant. :p
missed this one but am glad I finally saw it, sounds really great, ya know how much I love sausage
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