Eggplant Rollatini Gets A Healthy Makeover
I first made this recipe on a chilly early winter day. From the way this winter started, I really thought we were in for a cold and snowy one. But, as I sit here this Sunday morning in my pajamas and bathrobe, the sun is pouring in my windows, there is not a speck of snow on the ground, and it is almost 50 degrees F outside. Yesterday I hiked for 3 hours in spandex pants and a sweatshirt; no coat or boots or snow pants… There are many New Englanders who will blast me for complaining about our current lack of snow. People hate to shovel and hate driving in the snow even more. I get that.
In February during the my second year of residency I was rotating through the ICU for a month, and I remember wearing snow pants and boots over my scrubs to work everyday. I was on call every 4th night, and I would get out of bed at 5am in the hospital, grab a cup of coffee from the nurses lounge, and watch the snow fall from an empty patient room window. When rounds ended by mid morning, I would pull my snow pants and boots back on over my scrubs, trudge out to my car, clean it off, and drive home. Sure it was cold, but the snow was pretty. More than that, for me experiencing the seasons is, in a sense, a ritual. Winter in New England is, in part, a time for enduring. Making it through the cold dark season, making the best of the warmer days, and sometimes even playing in the snow. We wrap ourselves in scarves and gloves, race home to beat the setting sun, and fill our bellies with warm and comforting food. That is where the inspiration for this recipe came from. The weather may not be cooperating, but the ritual of winter carries on!
This recipe is not hard to make, but has several components to it. Luckily, they are almost all things that we have made before on this blog, in my Plant-Based Lasagna post. This recipe uses the same pesto, tofu ricotta, and spinach and mushroom filling as the lasagna post. If you made some pesto this summer and threw in it the freezer (like I told you to *hint *hint), then this is a great recipe to use it in, BTW.
OK, let’s get started.
Happy eating and best health,
Dr. G
Ingredients
- 12 1/8th inch thick length-wise slices of eggplant from the middle of the fruit (2-3 medium eggplants). Save the outer parts of the eggplant for another recipe.
- 2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 2 cups unsweetened, plain, plant based milk of your choice
- 2 whole tomatoes, sliced into 12 slices.
- 3 cups of tomato sauce, store bought or homemade check out my recipe here
- 1 cup of basil pesto check out my recipe here
Tofu Ricotta:
- 1/3 cup hulled, unsalted sunflower seeds (I use roasted ones though raw works as well)
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 block of firm tofu, well drained
Spinach and Mushroom filling:
- 4 cups of baby spinach
- 12oz of mushrooms, chopped (oyster and crimini used here)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
Instructions
Prepare the eggplant:
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F
- Find 2 shallow bowls/dishes that are at least the length of your eggplant slices, put the plant milk in one dish and the bread crumbs in the other.
- Dip each eggplant piece into the milk, then into the breadcrumbs, coating each side.
- Line the eggplant pieces up on a non-stick baking sheet that is lightly sprayed with cooking spray.
- Continue doing this until all 12 pieces are on the baking sheet.
- Bake the eggplant in the oven for 15-20 minutes, flipping half way through the cooking time. The eggplant should be soft and flexible at the end of the baking time with the bread crumbs just starting to brown.
- Remove them from the oven and set them aside.
- Prepare the other components of the dish while the eggplant is baking.
For the tofu ricotta:
- Pulse the sunflower seeds and garlic in the food processor until they are broken down to a gravel like consistency.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients and let the food processor run until the mixture is nice and smooth.
- Put your "ricotta" in a bowl and pop it in the fridge while you get everything else ready.
For the spinach and mushroom filling:
- In a large saute pan over medium heat add the mushrooms first and let them cook until they are soft.
- Throw in the garlic and spinach until the spinach has wilted.
- Place this in a bowl and set aside.
For the pesto:
- Please follow the instructions in the link above.
Putting it all together:
- Turn your oven down to to 350 degree F
- Spread 1/2 of the tomato sauce over the bottom of a 8x13 glass baking dish.
- Take one slice of the eggplant, spread a heaping tablespoon of the ricotta along the length of it, then layer 1 teaspoon of the pesto on top of the ricotta, then layer a heaping tablespoon of the spinach and mushroom mixture on top of the pesto. Take care not to over fill the rollatini.
- Roll up the eggplant and place seam side down into the baking dish.
- Continue with this process until you have used all of the eggplant slices.
- On top of each rollatini, place one tomato slice and a dollop of the pesto.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes until everything is heated through.
- Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the top is browned slightly, if desired.
- Serve with the remaining tomato sauce.
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