Most of the time, I come home after a high-stress day and simply collapse in front of the TV. Other days I immerse myself in composing dinner as pure distraction from the stuff I really need to finish up…before collapsing in front of the TV. Then there are the days when I arrive on a mission, angrily going about dinner prep not because I’m mad that I have to eat, but simply to prove to someone (intangible) that I am capable of doing something other than responding to email and cleaning up other people’s organizational disasters.

So tonight I’m winging it. The plan was fish soup with lots of croutons made from three-day-old leftover ciabatta, so I was thumbing through Nancy Harmon Jenkins’s lovely Cucina del Sole for ideas, when I suddenly remembered the eggplant I stashed in the crisper on Sunday. I could have gone the caponata route, or pasta, but inspiration actually struck. Creative energy, maybe. And leftovers.

So tonight I’m having stuffed eggplant. I sliced the smooth and lovely berry (really! coincidentally learned that from Alton tonight) lengthwise, scooped out the innards, and sautéed them in some olive oil with a bit of garlic and oregano. Into the mix: a couple of scoops of the leftover meat sauce from this weekend’s kaddo bourani (an Afghan pumpkin dish), some fresh breadcrumbs (thank you, ciabatta), a handful of chopped parsley, and a couple of spoonfuls of ricotta.

Good enough to eat with a spoon, actually, but instead I stuffed it all back into the eggplant, coated the whole pile in a bit of olive oil, and popped it in the oven to bake until soft.

Someone’s Mediterranean grandmother would be proud.