Eggplant Roll-ups

This dish was a play on lasagna roll ups I made awhile back, but since i'm always finding new ways to cut down on carbs, I made these using large globe eggplants instead. This will serve 4 if served with a salad and garlic bread on the side. It's a pantry friendly dish and not as time consuming or as labor intensive as eggplant parmigiana. Most of the time is just oven time, so this dish is great for weekday meals.

I make my own pasta sauce by sauteeing half a chopped onion with a couple of garlic cloves and a dash of chili flakes. Then add a can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes and let it simmer while the eggplant slices are baking in the oven.

The fastest way to go about making this dish is first to preheat the oven to 375˚, then slice the eggplant and get that going in the oven while you work on the sauce. It took me 30 min total.


Serves 4
Prep time: 10 min
Bake time: 25 min

The VIP's:

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 jar pasta sauce or make your own about 1 1/2-2 cups
• 7 bocconcini cut into thin slices or 1 cup grated mozzarella
• dried italian seasoning
• crushed red chili flakes
• olive oil
• salt

The play:

1. preheat oven to 375˚
2. wash, trim eggplant and slice it vertically - you should end up with about 8 long slices
3. place in a single layer on a baking tray and brush with olive oil on both sides
4. season to taste with salt, red pepper flakes and italian seasoning
5. place in oven for 10 min and then flip slices over and put in oven for another 10 min
6. spread a tablespoon of pasta sauce on each slice and roll up
7. place all the eggplant rolls seam side down in a greased casserole dish
8. cover with remaing pasta sauce, sprinkle with bocconcini and bake until heated through and the cheese is melted about 5-10 min