Eggplant Rollatini

(I'm not always the best on presentation, but I assure you this tasted good.)

So, this meal was vegetarian(ish), which is unusual for me, but my uncle gave me some fresh eggplant the other weekend and I felt compelled to do something with it. Having never worked with eggplant before (except once on a so-so ratatouille long ago), I wasn't sure what to expect. The recipe I used came from Giada De Laurentiis's Everyday Italian cookbook, and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. (Photo doesn't really do this meal justice.) Since, her recipe called for three eggplants to yield six servings and I only had two, I fudged with the proportions. This meal could have easily fed four on just two decent sized eggplants. I froze four pieces of it and will update this post with how the meal tastes post defrost.

Ingredients
2 medium-sized eggplants
Kosher salt and black ground pepper (Giada used sea salt, I used kosher b/c that's what I had)
Can vegetable spray
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1/3 cup of shredded mozzarella
6 tablespoons (give or take) grated Parmesan (I like to use the real stuff and grate my own because I think it does make a difference)
2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts
15 basil leaves, chiffonaded
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1 1/2 cups of fresh tomato sauce


Instructions and such
Eggplant is a nice meaty vegetable, but it can end up tasting tough and bitter if not handled properly, so the first thing I did to treat this vegetable, per Giada, was to cut the top and bottom off the eggplants, and then cut them lengthwise into 1/2-inch thick slices. You could go thinner if you wanted (I did for some of the pieces to experiment with which I liked better and found that I preferred the thinner slices). From there, I placed the slices on a cooling rack over top a cookie sheet and sprinkled kosher salt on both sides and let the pieces sit for about 30 minutes. (Giada said only 10 to 15 minutes, so use your judgment -- mine looked like they needed to sit out a bit longer.) The cookie sheet is to catch the drips of moisture that the salt will bring out of the vegetable. If you don't have a cooling rack, you could salt the pieces and set them in a colander with a few papers towels underneath -- us lonely chefs must improvise sometimes!

While the eggplant sat, I did some much needed laundry (was down to the dregs of my underwear drawer) and also preheated my little indoor electric grill to medium heat and my oven to 375 degrees.

Note on electric grills: If you don't have one, this is a good way to blow a 100 bucks -- especially if you live somewhere where you don't have access to an outdoor grill. Even if you have an outdoor grill, which I do (charcoal), some nights it's too much of a hassle to use it -- like last week when I locked myself out of my apartment -- so this is a good alternative. (I think I got mine on sale a few years back at Williams Sonoma for around $70.)

Back to the recipe... Once your eggplant has sat, rinse and pat dry with paper towels. I'm thinking if you didn't have a grill pan or anything that you could easily fry up the eggplant in a skillet over medium heat with some olive oil to brown and soften. I sprayed PAM on my grill pan and grilled the eggplant for about 5 minutes per side -- long enough to get some grill marks. Remove slices from grill pan and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat your egg until it is lightly scrambled. Mix in the ricotta with the egg. Add mozzarella, two tablespoons of Parmesan and toasted pine nuts, and gently combine. Fold in basil just to combine. Don't overmix! I added a little salt and pepper to this mixture as well.

Place a tablespoon of the cheese mixture on one end of the eggplant and roll up tightly. (Since my eggplants were sort of short and squatty, this was a little tricky, but I did the best I could.) Place the eggplant rollatini into a greased (with olive oil) 13 x 9-inch baking dish, seam side down. Continue with remaining eggplant. Evenly distribute tomato sauce on top of the eggplant rollatini -- add more if you need to. I just bought a good jar of tomato basil sauce from Whole Foods, which tasted great.

Season the dish with a little salt and pepper. Sprinkle your remaining Parmesan over the top (I also sprinkled a little grated mozzarella because, well, I have a thing for cheese, but it's not necessary).

Bake for 15 minutes or so -- I might have gone a little longer than this because my oven is tired. Once cooked, drizzle the top of the eggplant with a little extra-virgin olive oil.

Garlic bread and a simple salad would be good with this.