Italian Rollatini
Serves 4-6
Baked and bubbly, this combination of ingredients is irresistible! For a vegetarian meal, use tofu sausage.
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplants, each sliced lengthwise into 6 slices about 1/4-inch thick
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), divided
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 pound sweet Italian chicken, turkey or tofu sausage, casings removed
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus additional for sprinkling
- 1 can tomato sauce or tomato puree (15 ounces)
- 1/4 cup basil leaves, torn
Directions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400ºF.
- Lay the eggplant slices out on a baking sheet, drizzle with EVOO on both sides and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, flipping halfway through, until the eggplant is tender and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- While the eggplant is roasting, in a medium skillet with one turn of the pan of EVOO, brown the sausage, about 5 minutes, breaking it up with a wooden spoon or potato masher as it cooks. Remove the sausage from skillet with a slotted spoon to a medium bowl. Let cool, then mix in the mozzarella cheese and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
- Spread a little tomato sauce down on the bottom of a baking dish and sprinkle with the torn basil. Lay two pieces of roasted eggplant out lengthwise on a cutting board, overlapping them about an inch. Mound some sausage-cheese mixture at the short end of the eggplant slices. Roll them up, then lay the roll seam-side down on top of the sauce in the baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant until the baking dish is full – you should have 6 of them.
- Spoon more sauce over the eggplant rolls, then sprinkle with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Bake for 15 minutes, until the eggplant is warmed through and the cheese is bubbling.