CHEESY EGGPLANT ROLL-UPS
Ever see a recipe on social media and just know you have to try it? That was the case with this easy stuffed eggplant dish my daughter Olivia spied on Buzzfeed. Even people who are usually turned off by eggplant’s spongy texture will love it, thanks to its creamy blend of cheeses and fresh, tastes-like-summer tomato sauce.
You can use jarred marinara, of course, but I upped the recipe a notch with one of the most famous, and easy, sauce recipes ever created — that of cookbook author Marcella Hazan, who changed how Americans cook Italian food. I used fresh tomatoes from my garden but you could also use quality canned tomatoes, such as whole peeled San Marzano. Vegetarian and relatively low-cal, the dish was a huge hit at my future daughter-in-law’s recent bridal shower.
1 to 2 eggplants
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ cup basil
1 egg Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce (recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the ends off 1 large or 2 medium eggplants, then slice into ¼inch slices. Lay slices on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Salt both sides of the eggplant slices and let them sweat for 20 minutes, then dry them with a paper towel. Bake eggplant slices for 20 minutes or until soft.
Meanwhile, in a medium-size bowl, mix ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, basil and egg. Remove eggplant slices from the oven and turn oven to 400 degrees.
When slices have cooled a bit, spoon about 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture onto each eggplant slice, then roll it up, repeating for all slices.
Pour ½ cup of marinara sauce into a large baking pan, then add all the roll-ups seam down. Pour remaining ½ cup of marinara sauce and top with additional basil and Parmesan.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden brown.