Saturday, May 22, 2010

Eggplant Rollatini







Involtini di Melanzane con Salsiccia e Mozzarella to be exact! 


I had two big eggplants, some home made Italian sausages and lots of great herbs and tomatoes from the garden. I sent a note to my friend and fellow blogger Peter Francis Battaglia (whom I also call Saint Peter sometimes) asking him if he had a good rollatini recipe that did not require ricotta. He sent me one via messages on Facebook and I made it last night. I even had some for breakfast. I served it on spaghetti that was simply  tossed with butter, EVOO and some garlic. Here is the recipe pretty much as he sent it to me. I added just a couple of things in the mix.  This is a recipe that can be made *creatively* and you can easily increase the amounts if you want to. I had a little extra filling left, so I just stuffed it in around the rollatini before baking. FYI: I used 1 # of spicy sausage, removed from casings, 2 large eggplants and about 4-5 fresh ripe tomatoes. 


This takes a couple of hours to make, but it is not difficult and it is delicious, even better the next day and the day after! Well worth the time!


Saint Peter's Eggplant and Italian Sausage Rotalini

Involtini di Melanzane con Salsiccia e Mozzarell


Slice the eggplants longwise, and thin..make a francaise batter (2 eggs, 1/8 cup grated romano, fresh chopped parsley, fresh ground pepper), dredge the cutlets in seasoned flour with some fine panko crumbs, then the egg, then into 1/2 " of medium hot olive oil, about 3 minutes per side..drain on paper towels or a rack.
Saute the sausage in some olive oil, when almost done, add 1 sweet onion chopped finely, sauté for a minute. add 4 minced cloves of garlic, cook for a bit, then add 2 tbs. of wine, let this cook for 3 minutes..let it cool..add 1/2 cup small diced mozzarella, some chopped basil and parsley, 1/2 tsp. capers, 1 tbs. breadcrumbs, and 6 tbs. romano cheese, mix well.  Hold a cutlet in your hand and add a nice scoop to each of the cutlets. roll the cutlet around them. Secure with toothpicks.  
Make a sauce with chopped tomato, olive oil, diced onion, fresh parsley, some fennel seeds, salt, pepper...When it has cooked for 20 minutes...check for seasoning...Add a few basil leaves...in a pan, add some oil and sauce to the bottom, arrange the rollatini, pour the remaining sauce over, and cover with foil, bake in 350 for 25 minutes, uncover, add some chopped mozzarella and grated cheese, bake another 8 minutes uncovered till cheese is bubbly...

4 comments:

tinyskillet said...

What a great recipe, it looks fantastic! I just got home from the market and I bought an eggplant....what luck!

Kyle B. Sasaoka said...

Oh my goodness. 100% guarantee broke da mout. That eggplant looks so delicious. Gotta try your recipe.

s stockwell said...

I'm making this today!!

September’s Child said...

I can't stand it! I'm drooling.