Fried eggplant is so delicious and when you pair it with sauce and cheese it just doesn’t get any better.   I made eggplant rollatini for the first time, for my non meat-eating friend, on New Years Eve 2012 and it wasn’t as difficult to make as I thought it would be.

Ingredients:

• Eggplant (3 eggplants will fill two trays and be enough for roughly 6 people)
• Italian bread crumbs (I use a mixture of panko and regular and mix in some fresh chopped parsley and garlic and a little flour)
• 3-4 Eggs
• Salt & Pepper
• Oil for frying
• Ricotta Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Fresh Basil
• Tomato Sauce

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Set up paper bags lined with paper towels so you can soak up excess oil on your eggplant.

If you have a mandolin, I recommend using it to cut roughly 1/4 inch slices of your eggplant. It makes this dish much easier! Set up two shallow bowls, one with breadcrumbs and one with your beaten eggs.

Heat up oil in frying pan on medium to high heat.

Coat the slices of eggplant in egg and then coat in bread crumbs. Use your fingers to really pack the breadcrumbs on to the eggplant so they stick. Start frying the eggplant a few pieces at a time until golden brown. Then rest them on a paper towel lined bags.

In a bowl, mix a few tablespoons of parmesan cheese with the container of ricotta cheese. Add salt, pepper and fresh basil (some use mint instead). Place a small scoop at the end of each eggplant and roll it up. Place in a baking dish seam side down.

Cover the entire dish in sauce and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake until sauce is bubbly and the cheese is brown. If you aren’t going to bake them until later, don’t add the sauce until you are ready to put them in the oven.

Mangia!!