Foody Friday - Stuffed Eggplant

Last month when we were in Taos we took a quick spin through the local grocery store for munchies.

As much as I would have enjoyed it, we just couldn't live on gourmet rattlesnake sausage the whole weekend. My kids and the men needed munchies.

Anyway, as we were whipping through the deli I noticed a display of stuffed eggplant slices. I just got a quick glimpse of what they had in the case but it looked like a eggplant slice stuffed with some sort of cheese mixture. Mmmm...I'd been thinking about trying something like it every since we got home.

I did a bit of Googling and found a recipe that, though it wasn't full of cheese, sounded pretty good.

Baked Eggplant Rolls: Involtini di Melanzane

Ingredients
Extra-virgin olive oil, for frying
3 medium eggplants, with the stem ends removed, cut lengthwise into 1/3-inch thick slices

Frittata:
4 large eggs
1/3 cup, plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
(I used whatever kind of cheese I had and it turned out fine.)
1/3 cup freshly chopped Italian parsley leaves (dried worked)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 cups basic tomato sauce


Directions


In a 12-inch frying pan, pour olive oil until it sits 1-inch deep. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it is hot, but not smoking. Add the eggplant slices and fry, in batches, until lightly browned on each side. Remove the eggplant slices to drain on paper towels


To make the frittata: whisk the eggs and the 1/3 cup Parmesan together in a bowl. Add the parsley, and season the mixture, to taste, with the salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in an 8 to 10-inch nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour in the egg mixture and cook, swirling the egg mixture to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook until the omelet sets and the bottom turns a light golden brown. Invert the frittata over a clean plate and then return to the pan, top-side down, golden brown-side up. (This wasn't nearly as messy a step as it sounded.) Cook for another 1 to 2 minutes until the bottom side is also golden brown. Transfer the frittata to a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut into 1 1/2-inch strips. Cut each strip in half, crosswise.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Place a frittata strip in the center of each eggplant piece. A few of the longer eggplant slices will need 2 shorter strips of frittata. Roll the stuffed eggplant up from 1 end to the other and place, seam side down, in a lightly greased baking pan. The rolls should be placed side by side, somewhat tightly, together. Spoon the tomato sauce over the eggplant rolls and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

This turned out REALLY well. I was surprised how good it was. Yap ate two, Yahoo ate one, Yip and DR wouldn't touch them. Go figure, they are my anti veggie men. I'll have to try this again sometime but maybe with bacon and more cheese in the egg. Doesn't that sound good? Bacon, egg, cheese and tomato sauce...yum!