Spinach, ricotta and tomato eggplant rolls

Ready for a delicious eggplant recipe?

This is a good meat-free recipe to try at the weekend. It is not too heavy and really moreish. My children helped me prepare this, they enjoyed rolling up the eggplant.

I use spinach a lot in my cooking. I usually add it to soups all the time, sometimes to pasta as well and often I make risotto with it. It is rich in iron, cheap and available in most supermarkets.

I have been enjoying going out with my sister. It is such a treat for me to go out for coffee with a close Italian relative here in the UK… I have no blood relatives over here. I hope she stays for as long as possible

• Prep Time : 30 minutes
• Cook Time : 35 minutes

Ingredients

• eggplant – 2 large
• fresh spinach – 600 g – 2 cups
• ricotta cheese – 250 g – just over 1/2 cup
• chopped parsley – 1 tbsp
• mozzarella cheese – 125 g – just over 1 cup
• tomato sauce – 300 ml – 10 fluid oz
• parmesan cheese grated – 60 g – 5/8 cup
• garlic – 1 clove
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Wash and dry the eggplant, trim the ends and with a mandolin or with a sharp knife slice them as thin as you can. Lay them on a baking tray over a sheet of parchment paper, brush them with oil and sprinkle them with salt.

Cook them in a hot oven at 200C or 390F for 10 minutes until soft.

In a pan stir fry the garlic clove with 2 tbsp of olive oil, add the tomato sauce, chopped parsley, salt and pepper and cook over a moderate heat for 10 minutes. Then remove the garlic.

Cook the spinach in very little salty water. Let them cool down, squeeze them to remove the excess liquid and roughly chop them with a knife. Mix them up with the ricotta, the mozzarella chopped into small cubes and half of the parmesan.

Put 1 tsp of the ricotta, spinach and mozzarella mixture on each eggplant slice and roll up

On a standard baking tray spread 3/4 of tomato sauce, arrange the eggplant rolls on top, pour the remaining tomato sauce on top, sprinkle with the remaining grated parmesan, drizzle with olive oil.

Cook at 200C or 390F for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

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