Grilled Eggplant roll-ups
Grilled Eggplant roll-ups are fun to make and the grill makes them easy to prepare. I take egg plants and slice them lengthwise. To make even slices, I use a mandolin and put the slices into a large bowl and salt. Then I add 2 tbsp of olive oil and toss them; let them sit for 20 minutes and discard the water. Now, all the slices go straight on my grill.
Eggplants
It is both my Sicilian and Calabrese roots that put eggplants quite often on my table. Eggplants are packed with vitamins and minerals; they are a good source of dietary fibre. Sometimes they are an acquired taste, but this recipe is a no fail for you to fall in love with eggplants. Most of the bitterness comes from the skin of the eggplant; I take a potato peeler and remove some of the skin by scoring it in 1/2 inch sections. If you like, you can remove all the peel. The salt will also remove the bitterness; the longer the eggplant sits in salt, the less bitter it becomes.
A quick read on eggplants: https://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/pubs/0203/eggplant.html
The barbeque is a staple at my house all year, but from March to October it does most of the work. We are just getting ready to open the pool; you can see my owls that supposedly scare away the birds.
The eggplants sliced and placed in a bowl with salt and olive oil. Let them sit there for an hour.
Look at the colour on the grill.
Look at the grill marks and only 2 tbsp of olive oil. Cover these up and refrigerate until ready to use.
Fresh ground veal is the key to this dish; veal has a more delicate taste.
Take out the grilled eggplant from the fridge. Put the meat on the fattest edge of the eggplant and stuff with a bocconcini.
Neatly rolled-up.
I had some sauce with eggplants that I made a few days ago; put some marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan. Start lining up the rolls.
All ready for the top layer of sauce.
Ready for the oven.
Eggplant roll-ups
Stuffed with veal these little roll-ups are hearty.
Ingredients
Grilling the eggplant
- 2 medium eggplants
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
The filling
- 1 lb ground veal
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- 4 tbsp parmesan cheese
- extra olive oil for drizzling
- 350 gr bocconcini
Instructions
The Eggplant
-
Wash eggplant and remove both ends.
Slice eggplant using a Mandolin. I used the 1/8 setting.
Put eggplant in a big bowl.
Add salt and olive oil and toss with your hands.
Let it sit for at least one hour
Drain liquid and put directly on grill.
It grills quickly; I flipped each slice after 30 seconds.
Place on a platter and wrap with aluminum foil.
I refrigerated it over night. It helps soften the eggplant, but retain its shape.
The filling
-
Place veal, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, salt,egg,water,garlic,parsley in a bowl and mix.
The assembly
-
Slice bocconcini in half.
Take a 9 X 13 inch pan and place one cup of marinara sauce on bottom.
Place eggplant slices on a cutting board.
Scoop one tablespoon of filling on fat end of eggplant slice.
Set a bocconcini in the centre.
Roll and place in pan.
Once the pan is full, pour another cup of marinara sauce over the rolls.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Cover with tin foil.
Place in a 375 F oven for 30 minutes.
Remove and add 4 tbsp of Parmesan Cheese over top.
Return to the oven uncovered for another 30 minutes.
Recipe Notes
You can also substitute mozzarella if you don't have bocconcini.
This dish can serve as a main or a side. I ate it as a main with rice.
Buy some really good muffin tins for baking. I love these because nothing sticks to them. They were expensive, but worth it. Use canola oil to grease. You can see my work notebook here where I do all my planning and writing.
