Eggplant Rollatini

With the festive season just around the corner, I thought I'd start to share some dishes you can bring to Xmas lunch. Starting with my vegan take on Eggplant Rollatini! This Italian-inspired dish is made with baked eggplant and filled with cheese, parsley and Dibble Sour Cream. It's also traditionally filled with ricotta but I replaced it with tofu to add a bit of protein. This serves 4-6 people and can be made ahead of time. Happy cooking!

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Serves 4-6

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients 

• 2 Medium Eggplants
• 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Mixed Italian Herbs
• 1 1/4 Tbsp Flaky Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 300g Firm Tofu
• 1 Cup Shredded Vegan Cheese
• 1/2 Cup Vegan Parmesan Cheese
• 3 Tbsp Dibble Sour Cream
• 1/2 Lemon, juiced
• 1 Tbsp Parsley, finely chopped
• 1 Cup Tomato Pasta sauce (any store bought jar will do - used one with tomato, onion and roasted garlic)
• 100g Vegan cheese block
• 1/2 Non-dairy Milk
• 8-10 Fresh Basil leaves
• 2 Tbsp Fresh Basil, thinly sliced

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Cut both ends off of the eggplants and carefully cut 8-10 thin slices.
3. Place the eggplant slices on a lined baking tray and thoroughly coat the eggplant with 1/4 Cup of the olive oil. 

1. Top with 1/2 Tbsp mixed herbs, 1/2 Tbsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Turn the eggplant slices over and repeat steps 3 and 4. 
2. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes then turn and bake for a further 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. 
3. In a medium mixing bowl, thoroughly mix together the tofu, cheese, parmesan, Dibble Sour Cream, parsley, lemon juice and 1/4 Tbsp salt. You may need to mash the tofu with the back of a fork or spoon to soften it enough so it mixes well with the rest of the ingredients. 
4. Add 6 Tbsp of the pasta sauce to a baking dish and evenly spread to cover the base of the dish. 
5. Place one eggplant slice on a workbench and add 1 Tbsp of the filling to one end of the eggplant. Add a basil leaf and gently roll the eggplant over and around the filling.

1. Gently place the filled eggplant, with the rolled end at the bottom, in the baking dish. Repeat this for the remainder of the eggplant slices.
2. Add 1 Tbsp of pasta sauce on top of each eggplant piece. 
3. In a small pot on low heat, whisk together the cheese block and non-dairy milk until a smooth cheese sauce is formed.
4. Evenly pour the cheese sauce on top of the rollatini.

1. Bake for 15 minutes then turn the oven to fan grill and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the top surface is golden brown.
2. Enjoy!