Eggplant involtini parm

I first discovered Alison Roman in March 2021. Her eggplant parm recipe was mentioned in an episode of Armchair Expert. The way Monica Padman described it, I just had to try it. I had never had eggplant parm before, as it seemed to me to be a very Italian-American recipe, and my tastes lean more to authentic Italian. However, after watching The Sopranos from the start with Andreas during the pandemic, I had made a ziti, and it was amazing, although not something I would make very often as it was very heavy. Anyway, I loved Alison Roman's A Little Eggplant Parm, but it didn't quite have a crispiness that the recipe promised. A bit later, I came across Smitten Kitchen's Eggplant Involtini. The filling that gets rolled inside the aubergine strips is truly amazing. I didn't use it all, so to finish it up we ate it spread over toast and topped with my baked beans recipe. This involtini recipe, for me, was lacking something crispy in the texture. So I decided to try to frankenstein these two recipes together and truly offend passionate Italian cooks everywhere. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 3 aubergines, sliced from top to bottom 1 cm thick
  • olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 anchovy fillets
  • 2 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes
  • flakey sea salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Fresh herbs such as basil, parsley, oregano or marjoram, the more varieties, the better, chopped and mixed together
  • 1 tblsp capers, chopped
  • 1 cup ricotta
  • 1 ball mozzarella cheese, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, divided in two
  • Finely grated zest and juice from half a lemon
  • 40g panko breadcrumbs

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut tops off aubergines and cut into 1 cm thick slices. Arrange in one layer on baking sheets. Brush lightly with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Flip slices and repeat on the second side. Transfer to oven and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, flipping once during cooking. Keep an eye on them. If they start looking too brown, remove from the oven early. Set aubergines aside to cool.

  2. While that happens, make the sauce. Heat two tblsp olive oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring every now and then until the onions and garlic are tender and starting to brown, around 8 minutes. Add crushed red pepper flakes and anchovies, if using, and stir, letting both things melt into the onions. Add the tomatoes. Let it simmer gently for around 15 minutes. Once it has thickened, remove from heat, pour into an oven-safe baking dish and set aside.

  3. Next, assemble the aubergine rolls. In a bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella, 1/4 cup grated parmesan, lemon zest, about 1/2 tsp salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Place about 1 tblsp at the end of each full-sized slice of cooked aubergine, a little less on small ones, and roll into a cigar. Place each roll in the prepared sauce, seam side down.

  4. Sqeeze the lemon juice over the top, scatter the fresh chopped herbs and capers over that, then scatter with 1/4 cup grated parmesan, and finish with the breadcrumbs. Spatter some olive oil over the top to help the breadcrumbs brown up.

  5. Bake uncovered for approximately 30 minutes at 200°C fan forced, until bubbly around the edges and browned on top. Let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

Serve with garlic bread and a leafy salad.

References

Roman, Alison (23 February 2021). A Little Eggplant Parm anewsletter. https://anewsletter.alisoneroman.com/p/eggplant-parm-video

Perelman, Deb (7 September 2022). Eggplant Involtini. Smitten Kitchen. https://smittenkitchen.com/2022/09/eggplant-involtini/

Tags

  • Recipe
  • Dinner