Eggplant Rollatini and Friendship with Erika

Ever make a meal that really engages you as a cook? Where every step of the process becomes an adventure and you invest the time and energy you need to in each step? Not your everyday supper, more of a Sunday dinner or special occasion? This is that meal.

Eggplant Rollatini comes from the kitchen of my friend Erika. She is my treadmill buddy (when I get to the gym) and she is my Wonder Woman.

When she told me about how she slices, then dips in egg batter, and breads, then fries her eggplant, then stuffs them with a mixture of ricotta and sun-dried tomatoes and prosciutto, rolling them up and simmering in a pan of sauce I had to stop and say, “What, Whaaat? What is this deliciousness of which you speak?”

This recipe is an adventure and WORTH IT. Taking fresh eggplants, slicing them, breading them and frying in olive oil, making a creamy mixture of cheeses and spices, rolling them up into little wonderful packets of deliciousness. Then simmer this in a sauce and top with additional cheeses on top. You are welcome world. Another bonus? You can freeze this and reheat it in the oven on a day when you feel like planning supper is a burden (and yes, I too have those days). As I am writing this I am thinking, heck, you can even slap one of these on a beautiful roll and call is a sammich.

OK, back to the work part. Slice your eggplant length-wise I place my eggplant on a sheet pan and lightly salt and pat dry with paper towels. I let the eggplant slices sit out for a bit to remove excess moisture.

You don’t need to.

I do a three bowl set up, one with the eggplants, one with the egg (this is literally two eggs beaten with a little water), one with the breadcrumbs. I buy my breadcrumbs. I like the Italian style. You can leave it or add a little garlic powder or salt and pepper, etc. to your breadcrumbs.

I use about an inch of oil in my pan, get it good and hot, and the eggplants go to one bowl, the next bowl, and into the oil.

I know. Fried. Sigh. Just do it.

Then the fried eggplants (when golden remove from the oil) take a rest on the paper towel lined cookie sheet while I mix up the cheeses.

I mix ricotta (whole milk – this is too much energy involved to use part skim. NO). A mixture of Italian cheeses, sun-dried tomato pesto, and my spices.

Each eggplant slice gets a thinly sliced-you-can-read-the-paper-through-it slice of prosciutto. then a scoop of the cheese mixture, then roll.

The rollatini are then placed in sauce and simmered in the oven.

You can alter this recipe in any way. Instead of adding sun-dried tomato pesto you can use regular pesto, or no pesto at all. You can add only mozzarella instead of a mix of cheeses, this is your show.

If I never thanked Erika for being awesome…Thank you Erika for being awesome. Thank you for this amazing supper idea and all the goodness you bring into our lives.

 

I think one of the best things about finding someone who loves to cook and share is this common thread of conversation that weaves into your lives. It’s what we do. We feed people. We talk about it, and if we are really lucky enough, we get to write about it too.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and as always, thank you for coming to the table!

Chrissy

Click below for a printable recipe!

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