This is our favorite kind of summer food. Bright, fresh, light, and packed with flavor.

I made a stuffing that has three kinds of olives along with capers, garlic and Olive Oil. Then tossed it with juicy tomatoes and fresh parsley. This makes a great dip, a fantastic pasta sauce, and other endless possibilities! Make a big batch, and store them in the fridge.

Today, the olive mix went into pan roasted eggplant served along with lemon & parsley millets.

Ingredients for lemon & parsley millets:
1/2 cup millets, rinsed and drained
1 cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice (juice from one lemon)
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp olive oil

Ingredients for roasted eggplant:
1 American eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp coarse salt

Ingredients for olive & tomato relish:
1/2 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
(all the olives I use are jarred and in brine)
3 tbsp capers, drained from brine and chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

Notes:
-If you can’t find a variety of olives, you could absolutely just 1 1/2 cups of the same kind.
-Bottled capers come in various forms; salt packed, brine packed or oil packed. I tend to be brine packed. The capers are milder, not oily, and not too salty.

Method for lemon & parsley millets:
Bring 1/2 cup of millets along with 1 cup of water to a boil over high heat. Add salt, oil and stir well.
Now drop the heat to low, cover the pan, and let slowly simmer and cook for 15-18 minutes.
Let it cool for 5 minutes, then uncover and fluff it up with a fork.
Cool further to room temperature and then stir in lemon juice, parsely, and set aside.

Method for olive & tomato relish:
Mix together the chopped olives, lemon juice, capers, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Slowly drizzle in the measured olive oil while combining them together. Then stir in chopped tomatoes and parsley. Set this aside to rest for 10 minutes.

In the meanwhile, let’s cook our eggplant.

Method for pan roasted eggplant:
In a bowl, mix together garlic, basil, chilli flakes, salt and olive oil. Let this rest and marinate for 5 minutes so the oil starts to get saturated with flavor.

Heat a flat non stick pan over medium heat. Drizzle a few teaspoons of the flavored olive oil all over pan and spread evenly.
Place three slices of eggplant (or how many ever fits in your pan) and move it around so it absorbs the flavored oil in the pan.
Spoon a generous tsp of this garlic basil oil over the top of the eggplant slices and spread evenly. Let the eggplant cook on this side for a minute.

Flip over the slices and spread more flavored oil and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes until the eggplant is cooked tender, yet remains firm. Repeat this for all the slices, and set aside the cooked eggplant on a plate.

Assembling the plate:
Take a generous spoonful of the olive tomato mixture and place in the center of an eggplant slice. Then roll and tuck the slice to form a pocket. Serve over a scoop of lemon & parsley millets and enjoy!