Have a beautiful summer eggplant and not a clue what to make? Trust me you need to read this!

Every Thursday a produce box arrives on my front door step. For the past two weeks I have received a beautiful purple eggplant but was not quite sure how I wanted to tackle it. I recently made a baba ghanoush, which is great for an app, but I wanted to use the eggplant for a dinner entree.One of my favorite dishes is the eggplant rollatini at Bella Monica. When I say this is one of my favorite dishes I mean it is a favorite of almost all patrons of Bella Monica, so much so that adding it to your dinner reservation is recommended. That being said it takes quite a process and quite a few calories to make that dish. Recently I came across a eggplant roll-up dish that is not fried and is easy to make. If you love fresh ingredients with clear bold flavors this is the dish for you...you could even go the vegetarian route and leave out the prosciutto.

Eggplant Roll-Ups

1-2 eggplants (depending on your party)

1-2 garlic cloves

3-4 tbsp olive oil

basil

1/2 jar of your favorite marinara or arrabiata (if you like it spicy) sauce 

1 large ball of fresh mozzarella

6-12 slices prosciutto 

lemon (optional)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F

Slice the eggplant in 1/4 inch slices, salt them and place a paper towel between each slice to draw out the water; let set 20-30 min and drink a bit of wine to entertain you while you wait....trust me time will fly as you rest and sip a wonderful Carmenere or Zinfandel (appropriate for this dish)

Heat a grill pan or grill on med-high heat

Smash the garlic and add to the evoo...microwave for 10 seconds

Brush the eggplant with olive oil and garlic mixture; grill for 4-5 minutes per side....you will most likely have to do this in batches, depending on how much eggplant you make, so feel free to put some of the eggplant in the oven to start softening while you grill the others.

Let the eggplant cool until you can touch it (if you make too much you can freeze it in a ziplock until you are ready to make another batch).

Roll a piece of mozzarella, prosciutto and basil in each piece of eggplant then place in a baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes

Add some warm marinara sauce to a plate then top with a few roll-ups. Sprinkle with parmesan, asiago or any other cheese you like. If you are like me and forgot to add the basil leaf to a few roll-ups (blame the wine) then sprinkle some chopped basil over top!

Eggplant Roll-Ups with Mozzarella and Prosciutto

I tasted this dish and it was wonderful but I felt like something was missing. I had salted it and even added chili flakes but then I squeezed a bit of lemon over top and the flavors just blossomed. 

Enjoy this summer dinner...XOXO Genevieve