More baking soon, I promise. In the meantime, this is an eggplant rollatini that was particularly successful. One night I was watching Lifestyle Food and two shows featuring American-Italian chefs came on one after the other- one was Lidia Bastianich, the other Giada de Laurentiis - and both of them were featuring Italian-American dishes (e.g. spaghetti with meatballs). One dish that they both made caught my eye; an eggplant rollatini. But it wasn't until I went to visit my nonna soon after, and she served up a baked eggplant parmiagiana that I felt compelled to try it myself.
A quick search on Google actually brought up the recipe from Giada's show, which added to my feeling that I was 'supposed' to make this dish! It's extremely easy, and fairly quick to make. Also, and this will attract a few people, it's quite low fat! The only oil used it some cooking spray when grilling the eggplant slices, and the cheese used is low-fat ricotta and a little parmesan and mozarella. This dish is also a good alternative for those wanting to avoid carbohyrdrates or flour; it's comforting and cheesy/tomatoey like lasagna, but with eggplant instead of pasta sheets. I liked it very much.
The eggplant slices are just grilled and then wrapped around a spoonful of filling. Somehow I ended up with far more filling than I needed, so I just poured the excess around the rolled up slices. I think a reason for this is that I used ricotta in a tub, which can be pretty watery. Since then I've discovered fresh ricotta cut from the wheel and IT TASTES SPECTACULAR! Seriously, I never though something 'bland' like ricotta could have such a beautiful taste; it's milky and refreshing and almost sweet. And at $5 a kilo, it's cheaper than buying the tubs from the supermarket. Give it a try next time you're at a deli or market. I also used a bottle of tomato passata, rather than going to the effort of making my own tomato sauce, which I thought worked well, but home-made tomato sauce will always be better. Oh yes, and I didn't have pinenuts, so I used walnuts, which I dry toasted. Very tasty.
As you can see below, I topped my version with some brown breadcumbs I had malingering in the fridge, and a few nice black olives, and my dish was big enough that I took this to work for lunch several days straight (although I did get a bit sick of it...). Incidentally, that brown goo you see on top of the rocket leaves is not engine grease but a rather delicious salad dressing of mustard, honey, balsamic vinegar, salt and olive oil. Verrry nice!
Read on for the recipe:
Eggplant Rollatini
From 'Everyday Italian', Giada de Laurentiis
(I halved this recipe to create the amount in the photo above, which would be generous for 3-4 people)
3 medium-sized eggplants (about 1.8 kilos total)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Can vegetable spray
900g ricotta cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (115g) shredded mozzarella
8 tablespoons (115 g) grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons (45g)toasted pine nuts
20 fresh basil leaves, chiffonaded
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
2 cups fresh tomato sauce (I used a bottle of passata)
Preheat the grill pan and preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
Place a rack over a large baking sheet. Cut the 2 ends off the eggplant. Cut the eggplants lengthwise, into 1/2-inch thick slices.
Spray hot grill pan liberally with vegetable spray and then place eggplant slices on the grill until lightly browned on each side and tender, about 4 minutes per side. Remove slices from the grill pan and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until lightly scrambled. Mix the ricotta in with the egg. Add mozzarella, 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and toasted pine nuts and gently combine. Fold in basil just to combine. Do not overmix.
Place a tablespoon of the cheese mixture on 1 end of the eggplant and roll up tightly. Place the eggplant rollatini into a greased (with olive oil) 33 by 22-cm baking dish, seam side down. Continue with remaining eggplant.
Evenly distribute the tomato sauce on top of the eggplant rollatini. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining 5 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and bake for 15 minutes. When cooked, drizzle the top with extra-virgin olive oil.
Superb! Sounds so tasty!
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty tasty - I do recommend it!
ReplyDeleteBoy, that eggplant looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteI've made eggplant rollantini several times and it never fails that you end up with more filling then eggplant. Mmmm I love that dish, so delcious.
ReplyDeleteWhen I made the dish I sauted rather then grilled the eggplant, which does mean some more work with fixing them paper towels and salt so you get rid of some of the excess moisture. the rest of the recipe is pretty similar.
I've made eggplant rollantini several times and it never fails that you end up with more filling then eggplant. Mmmm I love that dish, so delcious.
ReplyDeleteWhen I make mine however I saute them rather then grill them. It does take more work in prep b/c you have to salt the eggplants to get some of the excess moisture out. oh well.
You know ,I have some runescape gold,and my friend also has some rs gold,do you kouw they have the same meaning,Both of them can be called runescape money，
ReplyDeleteI just want to buy runescape,because there are many
cheap rs gold
What a Cookie !!!
ReplyDeleteCookie Monster
I was looking through an old issue of Everyday Foodsportsbook (March 2008) and came across two recipes I wanted to try.bet nfl Eggplant Rollatini and a steak dish. I put the Eggplant Rollatini together on Sunday and then heated up for dinner Monday night. This is a super quick dish and very tasty.http://www.enterbet.com I could not find the original recipe online so I will post that with my adjustments noted
ReplyDeleteWith the motor running, drop the garlic into a food processor to chop it. Sportsbook Add the basil, pine nuts, and salt and pulse until the basil and nuts are coarsely chopped, then process until finely chopped. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the Parmigiano and Pecorino. (The pesto can be stored in a tightly sealed jar, topped with a thin layer of extra-virgin olive oil, for several weeks in the refrigerator. Make the basic tomato sauce
ReplyDeleteIn a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, online betting until soft and light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the carrot and thyme and cook, stirring, until the carrot is softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes with their juices, breaking up the tomatoes with your hands, and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer until the sauce is as thick as hot cereal, march madness about 30 minutes. Season with salt and remove from the heat. (Once cool, the sauce can be refrigerated, tightly covered, for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 6 months.)
http://www.canadacasino.com
Eggplant Rollatini is an Italian-American classic, right up there with veal parmigiana and baked ziti. These are not classic Italian dishes by any stretch of the imagination. You're far more likely to find this preparation of thinly sliced eggplant stuffed with ricotta at a pizza joint than a Tuscan trattoria. The word "rollatini" doesn't even exist in the Italian language!
ReplyDeletefishing costa rica experts
costa rica fishing vacations
sport fishing in costa rica
costa rica fishing charters
costa rica deep sea fishing
costa rica fishing package
costa rica sport fishing
costa rica fishing tours
costa rica fishing lodge
costa rica fishing trips