FOOD NEWS
Baked Eggplant Rollatini Is A Fresh Twist On The Traditional Fried Version
BY NIKITA EPHANOV
If you’re looking for a delicious, cheesy meal that still offers a serving of vegetables, try baked eggplant rollatini, a lighter version of the traditional fried dish.
Like many other Italian-American dishes, eggplant rollatini is a purely American invention and was created as a more affordable, vegetarian version of Rome’s veal rollatini.
Although not fried like classic eggplant rollatini, the baked variation comes together in much the same way, with cheese rolled into slices of eggplant and served with marinara.
Make sure to salt your sliced eggplant and let it drain for ten minutes to remove moisture before cooking. Then, bake the slices for ten minutes while you make your filling.
Combine an egg with ricotta, parmesan, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper, then spoon the mixture onto your eggplant slices, roll them into bundles, and place onto a tray or dish.
Top the rollatini with marinara sauce and cheese and bake for forty minutes under aluminum foil. During the last ten minutes, take off the foil to let the tops brown and bubble.
While rollatini can function as a light meal or side dish, you can bulk it up by adding pasta with or serving it with a side salad, fried arancini, bread, and wine.