Eggplant, cheese, spinach and basil rolled up into an simple and healthful dish.
With a little prep, anyone can master this eggplant recipe. It took me a while to understand how to properly cook eggplant so I’ll let you in on the trick. Salt your eggplant! Always salt your eggplant slices and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Then pat dry with a paper towel, then flip and repeat the process. This pulls out the moisture and bitterness.
Read Your Food Labels
Always look at your labels. Even if something says “low fat” or ‘low sugar” do some fact checking. Look for sugar alternatives like dextrose, glucose etc. that may be hiding. Make sure the ingredients are real foods you know and can pronounce too. I used part-skim Ricotta cheese. Ricotta is less fatty than some other cheese options, like sour cream. The brand I used (Giant) only had 6 grams. Not to shabby.
Tomato sauces are being made with a lot less sugar these days, but still check the label. Nature’s Promise by Giant boasts only 6 grams.
Reasons to Love this Rollatini
I love this recipe because you get similar flavors and textures to a traditional recipes for lasagna rollatini with veggies and less dairy.
- 2 Medium Eggplants
- Salt to taste
- 1½ Cup Tomato Sauce
- 1 Egg
- ½ Cup Ricotta
- 2 Tablespoons Parmesan, shredded
- 4 Ounces Spinach, sauteed or frozen and thawed
- 1 teaspoon Garlic, minced
- ½ Cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- Basil to taste
- Turn oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Slice the eggplant long ways about ¼ inch thick. On a large, covered baking sheet place eggplant and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for 10-12 minutes. Pat dry with a paper towel. Flip the eggplant and repeat the process.
- Place Eggplant in oven for 10 minutes, covered with aluminum foil.
- In a medium bowl, mix egg, ricotta, parmesan, spinach and garlic.
- In a large baking dish, add ½ cup tomato sauce and spread to lightly cover.
- Let eggplant cool for 2 minutes then remove from pan. One piece at a time, add 1 heaping tablespoon of the ricotta mixture and roll starting at the short end up. Place in baking pan. Repeat for all pieces of eggplant.
- Top with remaining tomato sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
- Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove from oven and top with chopped basil to taste.
Before baking the full recipe, the eggplant should be tender but not fully cooked.
Fresh herbs like basil bring out the flavors of the tomato sauce and make this dish shine. You could also use parsley.
Enjoy and let food be your energy!