We are obsessed with all things eggplant and these delicious cheesy eggplant roll-ups are no exception! Wow! This recipe started out as a fun experiment that turned out to be totally worth repeating! Not only is this dish totally delicious, it’s also really simple to make. You want to know the other good news? There’s no dredging the eggplant in bread crumbs or frying them in butter or oil here. Sound like a win? We think so. Oh, and there’s cheese so that part makes us happy too.
To begin, just clean and dry your eggplants and slice them into 1/4 inch slices, discarding the ends. Toss them in a bowl with some olive oil and be sure they are coated evenly.
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and lay the eggplant slices on each pan. Sprinkle with kosher salt on both sides. Place them in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
While the eggplant is in the oven, you can get started on the ricotta mixture. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, fresh basil and garlic. Grate the zucchini and be sure to squeeze out any excess liquid. Add the zucchini to the ricotta mixture and season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
Before you begin the assembly process, pour 1 cup of the marinara on the bottom of a large baking dish. Working one at a time, lay an eggplant slice on a flat work surface and spoon the ricotta mixture onto the middle of the eggplant. Fold up the eggplant and pinch the ends together. Don’t worry, it will stay together…just give it a little pinch! Line the roll ups into the baking dish and top with remaining marinara and then sprinkle with the fontina cheese. Pop them back into the oven for 15 minutes until they are nice and bubbly. We recommend broiling for the last 2 minutes so the cheese gets nice and golden brown. Your house is going to smell divine! Yum!
Check out some of our other favorite ricotta dishes:
http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/crustless-quiche-sweet-corn-zucchini-ricotta/
http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/sauteed-vegetables-with-ricotta/
- 2 medium eggplants
- ¼ C good quality olive oil
- 16 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
- ⅓ C fresh basil, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 small zuchinni, grated (or 1 cup)
- 1½ C marinara sauce (homemade or your favorite jarred brand)
- ½ C fontina cheese
- kosher salt & ground pepper
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Cut the stem off of of each eggplant. Cut eggplant lengthwise into ¼ inch slices, discarding each side piece. Place eggplant into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil, toss to evenly coat each side of eggplant slices.
- Line two large rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper. Line eggplant on pans and season with kosher salt, roast for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.
- While eggplant is roasting assemble the filling. In a medium bowl and add ricotta, egg, basil and garlic. Grate zuchinni and squeeze out any excess water with your hand. Add zuchinni to the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste - approx ½ tsp each. Mix with a spoon until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Line a large casserole pan with 1 C marinara sauce. Begin by laying one eggplant slice flat on a work surface. Spoon approx 3 Tbsp ricotta mixture to line a strip in the center of the eggplant. Pull the sides of the eggplant together and pinch the tops to connect them, the eggplant will hold to the other side. Line roll-ups in the casserole dish. Distribute remaining marinara over the tops of the roll-ups, sprinkle with fontina cheese.
- Bake for 15 minutes until bubbly. Broil the last 2 minutes of cooking until cheese turns golden brown. Remove from oven and serve.
Leave a Reply