This eggplant rollatini recipe is a hearty Italian type dinner everybody will love! Bake the veggie full of a three-cheese filling.
Right here’s a pleasant Italian eggplant dish that makes dinnertime extra particular: Eggplant Rollatini! It’s like a mixture of eggplant Parmesan and lasagna roll ups. Tender strips of eggplant are wrapped round a creamy three-cheese filling, then baked in selfmade tomato sauce and extra cheese. They’re extraordinarily satisfying and make for one of the best showstopping dinner! Right here’s what you want to learn about this basic Italian dinner recipe.
Substances in eggplant rollatini
Eggplant rollatini is an American title for an Italian dish of thinly sliced eggplant rolled round a filling and baked. It Italy it’s referred to as involtini, or involtini di melanzane (involtini fabricated from eggplant). The eggplant could also be breaded or dusted in flour earlier than rolling, or it might be rolled with out breading.
This eggplant rollatini recipe has evenly broiled eggplant strips wrapped round a filling of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. The rolls are baked in selfmade tomato sauce and coated in additional cheese, which makes a comfortable, homey vegetarian dinner. It’s additionally an amazing gluten-free dinner different to lasagna rolls. The components you’ll want are:
Eggplant
Olive oil
Yellow onion
Garlic
Hearth roasted crushed tomatoes
Ricotta cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Egg
Oregano, nutmeg and salt
Chopped parsley and/or recent basil
Ingredient notes
It’s essential to make use of highest quality components on this eggplant rollatini for one of the best outcomes. We advocate making the selfmade marinara utilizing hearth roasted canned tomatoes, however you’ll be able to substitute jarred marinara if you happen to like. Listed below are just a few particular ingredient notes to remember:
Use hearth roasted tomatoes. Hearth roasted tomatoes make one of the best taste: they style candy and smoky proper out of the can. In the event you can’t discover them, substitute highest quality tomatoes for the sauce.
Or, use highest quality jarred marinara. To save lots of time for prep, you need to use highest quality jarred marinara sauce as an alternative of constructing the selfmade sauce. Take into accout, the flavour is greatest following the recipe under!
Entire milk mozzarella cheese makes a distinction. Such a cheese melts significantly better than half skim mozzarella, and has a richer taste. It additionally melts higher when reheating.
How you can make eggplant rollatini
Eggplant rollatini is straightforward to place collectively, nevertheless it does contain some effort and time. A tip: you would possibly wish to get the assistance of a associate to place this collectively! It’s far more enjoyable and comes collectively faster. Right here’s what you’ll have to do:
Slice the eggplant thinly, then broil it. Broiling the eggplant takes simply 4 to six minutes for a tray, however you’ll want a number of batches to cook dinner all 20 eggplant strips. You may as well bake each trays at 425F for about 10 to fifteen minutes till they’re tender and almost cooked via.
Make the selfmade marinara sauce following the recipe under.
Combine the filling components collectively in a bowl.
Unfold a little bit of tomato sauce within the backside of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Place 1 tablespoon of the filling on every eggplant slice, then roll it up. Gently roll it across the filling, then place it within the pan.
Prime with extra marinara sauce and cheese, then bake for 15 to twenty minutes till the cheese is melted.
Permit to face for 10 minutes earlier than serving, which helps the feel to agency up and any liquid to be absorbed.
Storage and make forward ideas
This eggplant rollatini recipe takes about 1 hour to make, so it’s greatest for dinner events or weekends when you may have an excellent quantity of prep time. In the event you’d prefer to eat it on a weeknight, you’ll be able to prep a number of the parts prematurely to make for an easier meeting. Listed below are just a few make-ahead ideas:
Cook dinner the eggplant strips and make the tomato sauce and filling prematurely. This protects about 30 to 40 minutes off within the timing of recipe. Refrigerate all three till able to bake.
Leftovers retailer refrigerated for as much as 3 days. You can also make your entire dish prematurely and refrigerate if you happen to like. Leftovers tastes nice after re-warming in a 375°F oven.
If desired, you’ll be able to freeze leftovers in a sealed container for as much as 3 months. Nevertheless, the eggplant can change into extra mushy after freezing, so we advocate consuming it after refrigeration if potential.
Extra eggplant recipes
There are such a lot of nice methods to eat eggplant! Listed below are just a few of our high eggplant recipes:
1 cup shredded complete milk mozzarella cheese, plus extra for topping
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided, plus extra for topping
1 egg
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon floor nutmeg
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Contemporary basil, to serve (non-obligatory
Slice the ends off eggplant, then slice it lengthwise into 3/8” thick planks (you’ll have about 20 complete). Place them on a baking sheet, then brush evenly with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Place one sheet within the oven and broil 4 to six minutes till tender and largely cooked via. Then broil in separate batches till all eggplant planks are cooked.*
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
In the meantime, warmth the two tablespoons olive oil in a small saucepan over medium warmth. Add the minced onion and garlic and cook dinner for five minutes till translucent and aromatic. Stir within the tomatoes and and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Simmer till making the eggplant rolls.
In a medium bowl, combine the filling components: the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, oregano, nutmeg, chopped parsley, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
Unfold a number of the tomato sauce within the backside of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Add 1 tablespoon filling to 1 finish of every eggplant slice and roll up. Place it within the baking dish, seam facet down. Repeat with all eggplant slices. Prime the rolled eggplant with a line of tomato sauce, then further mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
Bake 15 to twenty minutes till cheese is melted. Permit to chill for 10 minutes earlier than serving (this helps the feel to set and further moisture to be absorbed). Prime with recent basil or further chopped recent parsley.
Notes
*In the event you desire, you may as well bake the eggplant on two trays at 425°F for 10 to fifteen minutes till tender and largely cooked via, checking the tenderness with a fork throughout the bake time.
**If desired, you’ll be able to substitute 28-ounces high-quality jarred marinara to hurry up prep time.
