White Eggplant Rollatini

Today I spent the afternoon at my friend Jamie's house, where we finally (after talking about and planning it for months) cooked together. It seems the two of us often talk about food and cooking, giving advice on what to make for dinner, or sharing our success stories (and failures) in the kitchen. We've tried to bake together before, when her daughter Lilly was younger, strapped into a baby carrier* Jamie was wearing. Baking while toting around a baby: apparently not so easy. We ended up switching from baking to arts and crafts projects on that occasion, which was only slightly easier, at least it didn't involve knives or a hot oven.

* I think it is worth noting here that in trying to find a more clear and succinct way to describe the across the chest style baby backpack I was informed by a visiting friend of one of my roommates that the name for a Native American baby carrier is a papoose. A google search informed me that "papoose" is also a name for this guy. Yeah. I was entertained.

Today, we had a mission. Make something that would use the white eggplant in her fridge, and some of the herbs growing so prolifically in her herb garden, that didn't require a trip to the grocery store for additional ingredients. After chatting for quite awhile about different eggplant recipes, and pouring through a number of cookbooks, we decided to make Eggplant Rollatini.

White eggplant is often smaller, and considered to be more tender and creamier than its purple counterparts. The way we prepared this, to be honest I couldn't tell the difference, but I can tell you: the final outcome was GOOD. And that is what mattered. This can absolutely be made with traditional purple eggplant, but the use of white eggplant made for a nice visual change from the usual and expected, which I have to admit I enjoyed. The fresh spinach we added is also not traditional in this dish, but we both thought it was a lovely addition, and the pop of green color was great.

We first dipped the sliced eggplant in a wash of egg and a splash of milk, then into herbed panko breading.

We pan-fried the breaded slices, and meanwhile prepared the filling, made up of Ricotta, Parmesan, finely minced garlic, and basil. Jamie has a lovely herb garden we picked the basil from right before it went into the dish.

Can't you just smell it? I love fresh basil. Basil says summer, and it says Italy. And fresh basil growing on a sunny porch, yearning to be picked, is just about one of the best things to inspire an afternoon of Italian cooking.

We also used the excess eggplant we had by chopping it into a tiny dice, cooking it in a bit of oil, and adding it (along with yet some more basil from the garden) to a jar of basic tomato sauce.

Next came the fun part.  We lined each slice of eggplant with a few leaves of spinach, added about a tablespoon of filling, and rolled, securing them each with a toothpick.

A sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, and the dish went into the oven for a bit, allowing us a bit of playtime (a happy relief for our cooking helper, who had been very good the entire time, sitting in her high chair and snacking on tomatoes and cheese while we worked).

Who could say no to that face? Come on, really?

The recipe:

Eggplant Rollatini with Spinach

for the eggplant:

3 medium eggplants, sliced lengthwise into quarter inch or slightly thicker slices

1 egg and a splash of milk to dip

1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons Italian dried herbs such as oregano, parsley and basil, plus salt and fresh ground pepper to your liking

For the filling:

1 3/4 cup Ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup finely chopped or chiffonaded fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

1 clove minced garlic

For the sauce:

1 jar of basic tomato sauce

1/4 cup finely chopped of chiffonaded fresh basil

1 cup (or however much is left) diced eggplant

1 clove minced garlic

Additional ingredients:

1/4 cup shredded mozzerella cheese

additional sprigs of fresh basil to garnish
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach

Directions:

1.Dip the eggplant slices in egg and then coat with herbed bread crumbs.

2. Pan fry in light oil until breading is brown and crispy. set aside.

3. Heat the sauce and additional ingredients over low heat for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine, and the diced eggplant to soften.

4. Combine the filling ingredients

5. Assemble the eggplant rolls, lining each fried eggplant slice with spinach, a tablespoon of ricotta filling, and then rolling, secure with a tooth pick.

6. Place the eggplant rolls in an oven safe dish over a thin layer of the tomato sauce from step 3.

7. sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top of the dish, bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

8. Try to remember to save some for dinner, even if you are tempted to eat it all during your initial "taste test" for that food blog you write. Take lots of pictures.

August is...

An email advertisement from eatingwell.com has recently alerted me that August is apparently National Olive Month. As it happens I have half a jar of Kalamata olives sitting in my fridge, awaiting their grand purpose (I used the other half in a delicious hearty Mediterranean vegetable pasta sauce I made a while back, I am hoping to wait for more hearty-pasta type weather before posting that one; who wants "hearty" when the humidity is at 75%?) and so I decided- why not observe national olive month like any patriotic American should?

As I thought about national olive month, I started to wonder what other grand and important holidays take place in the month of August that most of us have never heard of. A quick search through the interwebs informs me that August is also National Water Quality Month, Panini Month, Catfish Month, and Immunization Awareness Month. So in short, be sure this month to make the following recipe for an olive panino (yes, apparently the singular for panini, please correct me if I'm wrong), make sure to filter your water, perhaps go catfishing, and of course get up to date with your vaccines!

Some individual holidays that take place in August which may be worth noting include "Kiss and make up day" (August 25) "wiggle your toes day" (August 6th), "bad poetry day" (August 18) and "sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch day" (August 8th). I plan to observe as many of these important holidays as I can, though I may need to bend some rules on "sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch" day, as I live in an apartment building and my neighbors mostly do not have porches. That being said, to all my friends in the neighborhood: don't be surprised when a zucchini appears unexpectedly on August 8th on your porch/stoop/hallway/desk etc... Also, might as well go ahead and start bracing yourself for the bad poetry bound to be created (and perhaps read in public?) by yours truly on the 18th.



Summer Vegetable Panini with Homemade Olive Tapenade
Ingredients:  (for one sandwich)
2 slices of your favorite hearty sandwich bread (I used Trader Joe's San Francisco multigrain sourdough)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive tapanade (recipe to follow)
2 thick slices of eggplant
2 flat slices of red or yellow bell pepper (one quarter of pepper each, seeds, ribs, and core removed)
1 ounce fresh soft goat cheese
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

note: There are tons of fun variations you could do here. The possibilities are endless, really. I will probably be eating panini with eggplant and olive tapenade all week, i have enough of the basic ingredients. Variations I plan to try include eggplant, olive, argula and grape tomatoes, and olive, eggplant and mozzarella. Have an idea for a combination that sounds good with these flavors? Tell me in the comments!

Homemade Olive Tapenade:
2.5 ounces pitted black kalamata olives
1 teaspoon capers
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

To make the tapenade: combine all ingredients in a food processor (or in a small sturdy bowl if you plan to use a hand blender) pulse until ingredients form a thick paste.

To make the panini:
Grill or roast the eggplant and bell pepper slices. Use the olive oil to lightly coat the vegetables before cooking. I did not have access to a grill, so I cooked them over high heat on a grill pan.

Spread the two slices of bread with first a thin layer of goat cheese and then a thin layer of tapenade. layer the eggplant and red pepper onto one slice and top to construct the sandwich. cook on the grill, in a panini press, or like I did on the grill pan weighted with an iron grill press for a few minutes until the bread is browned.

Happy August Everyone! How will you celebrate?