Eggplant Rollatini

This take on my moms rollatini is baked instead of fried. I use low fat ricotta and mozzarella and you cannot tell the difference. In fact, its better. Gone is the guilt and what your left with is a light and tasty dish (sorry mom).   You'll never want to fry an eggplant ever again.


You 'll need:
2 large eggplant, tops removed and sliced to 1/3 - 1/2 inch slices long ways, salted to taste
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup olive oil

For the filling you'll need:
Ricotta, 2 cups part skim
Mozzarella, 1 cup shredded low fat
Grated cheese, I like Pecorino Romano 1/2 cup
2 eggs
Parsley, 1/2 cup chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste, I used 1/8 teaspoon

For the topping, you'll need:
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In a shallow dish (like a dinner plate) pour oil, in a second shallow dish pour breadcrumbs.  Dredge eggplant through oil on each side lightly then bread with crumbs lightly. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.

In a 400 degree oven, bake the eggplant on a lightly oiled sheet for 30 minutes. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta, grated cheese, egg, parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Take a slice of baked eggplant and add a heaping tablespoon full of the ricotta mix.

Roll the eggplant and place the seam on the bottom.  In a baking tray add 1/2 cup of tomato sauce to bottom and smooth it out.  Place rolled eggplant in saucy baking tray.

Continue with the remaining eggplant until all are filled.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of sauce over each rollatini.

Sprinkle each rollatini with mozzarella cheese, I used a generous pinch.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serves 6


Note: If you put the eggplant in the oil it will soak it all up, so be sure to pass it through lightly and use your fingers to spread out the oil all over the eggplant. Also, you don't want to put much breadcrumb on this, just a light coating.

When baking these, they need to be slightly thicker than when fried so they don't dry out, so 1/3 to 1/2 inch slices are best.