Eggplant Rollatini

Salt Glorious Salt

Rock Salt, Table Salt, Kosher Salt or Sodium Chloride whatever you call it the truth about salt is that there is a lot more of it in your food than you realize. Great chefs know the secret to great food is intense flavor and no two ingredients help support and intensify flavor profiles quite like salt and butter.(1) Here in the US we LOVE excess and that doesn’t stop at the dinner table. According to www.healthymenumailer.com “The average American consumes between 4,000 and 5,000 mg of sodium (or salt) a day. That is close to double the recommended amount we should be consuming.”(2) Recently US restaurant chains have come under fire as the American Medical Association tries to thrust salt consumption into the limelight. Think about this: while our politicians debate the best way to approach our health care crisis an article in the New York Times claims”The United States could save $18 billion a year in health spending if Americans would cut their consumption of salt to the recommended level, the RAND Corporation reports in a new study. “

This would be the part where you might expect a low salt recipe or cooking technique. Obviously then we’ve never met. I’ll celebrate our addiction to salt by sharing a recipe that requires lots of it, adds in some pan frying for extra saturated fat and high-fat cheese to turn a perfectly healthy vegetarian dish into a delicious cholesterol and sodium infused killer.(3) I’ve been making this recipe for a long time so I do it from memory at this point. I even used it as my entry at my last Iron Chef party. I didn’t win but I’m not bitter.(4)

Eggplant Rollatini Florentine

1 Large Purple Eggplant
¼ cup Parmigianino Oreggiano
¼ cup whole milk ricotta cheese
½ package frozen spinach

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil
Salt
Black pepper
Flour or Bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
Eggs

Tomato Sauce

Toothpicks
Wax paper

First you need to cut the eggplant and you should NOT let your child help with this. The skin on the eggplant is slicker than it looks and a sharp cooks knife is best. Cut the top and the bottom off the eggplant and then trim off the rest of the skin and cut the remaining eggplant into 6 slices that have no skin on them. Lay all 6 slices on wax paper and salt liberally on both sides. Then cover with another sheet of wax paper and let them sit for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes you will see a liquid has appeared on the eggplant. Take paper towels and dry the liquid off. This is called sweating the eggplant and removing the liquid takes away most of the bitter flavor leaving a much sweeter taste.

Pour ½ inch of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. You can use flour or bread crumbs to make this - I find the flour burns in the oil quick so when Maddy is helping I err on the side of caution and use bread crumbs.  Make an egg wash bowl and bread crumbs plate side by side for coating the eggplant (same way you might do fried chicken).  Dredge the eggplant in the egg wash and then in the bread crumbs to coat before pan frying on each side for 2-5 min or until just golden brown. Since I can’t let Maddy place the eggplants in the hot oil she stands to my right and helps with the dredging and flouring while I place them in the pan.

Thaw the spinach and squeeze in paper towels to remove excess water.(5) Then mix together the spinach, cheeses, garlic powder, oregano, basil, salt and pepper with a fork. Take a small amount of the cheese mixture and place it on the end of a fried eggplant piece. Then roll the eggplant up over the cheese and secure with a toothpick. Maddy loves to help with the rolling part. Coat the bottom of a glass baking dish with the tomato sauce. Place all 6 rolled up eggplant pieces in the baking dish with more sauce on top. Cover and bake at 300 for 30-45 min or until hot. Remember to take the toothpicks out before serving.(6)

Interesting variation can be made by adding shredded prosciutto to the cheese mixture. When I do this I shred the meat in a food processor and fry in a dry pan for 2-3 min before adding to the cheese mixture to achieve a crispy texture.
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(1) I had to eat that 42 oz porterhouse.
(2) Do I find the most reliable sources or what?
(3) May take years.  Not reccomended as a murder weapon.
(4) I am SO bitter.
(5) Dont skip this - you've been warned.
(6) Depending on how you feel about your guests.