Eggplant Begins With An E

It's a good thing my hair dresser was running a few minutes late the other day because if she hadn't been, I might not have picked up the Real Simple magazine while I waited and I might not have found this recipe for Eggplant Parmesan Rollatini.

We are kind of a one-trick pony when it comes to eggplant. Or, I guess two tricks. Either Sergio makes his Eggplant Parmesan or I make a pizza. I made a pizza a couple of weeks ago with our skinny CSA eggplants, so I wanted to try something else. Sergio is the one that always makes Eggplant Parmesan and as is common in the patterns of a relationship, that task has fallen exclusively to him, even though I probably could figure out how to make it myself were I so inclined. 

But I wasn't so inclined, I wanted something new. Luckily I found this. The heirloom eggplant at Badseed on Friday night were the absolute perfect size for this and they were gorgeous. If only I could find my camera - still packed away somewhere - I'd have taken a proper photo of them. At any rate - here is this.

And here is the recipe. "Rollatini," by the way, is not some clever descriptor devised by the editorial staff at Real Simple. It is also not a real Italian word. The real Italian name for this dish is "Involtini de Melanzane." Which I think is much more fun to say.

A couple of tips...
• the article suggests that this casserole can be made up to 4 hours in advance but no more than that lest the ricotta mixture separate, but I made mine 6 hours ahead of time and encountered no problems.
• the article also suggests it serves 8; ours, served with pasta, served 5.
• next time I make it I'll likely double the marinara sauce - especially if I serve it on pasta again.
• the hands-on time of 25 minutes does not include toddler wrangling, which will likely double that prep time.