Eggplant Involtini
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On the fussiness scale, this recipe is up there. I hate to start on a negative note, especially when these little ricotta-stuffed rolls turned out to be so stinking good, but I’m not so drawn to these types of recipes anymore — the ones that call for salting and draining and blotting and deep frying and rolling … as adorable as they may be.
But I’ve had this recipe bookmarked since last Christmas when I first opened Tartine Bread. And with eggplant season peaking and with my homemade tomato sauce and ricotta cheese obsession persisting, the timing seemed right. And right it was.
Oh boy. Somehow the flavors of lemon and thyme in the ricotta cheese pervade the eggplant shells, all of which meld together with the fresh tomato and cream sauce base, a perfect combination in this early fall dish.
Don’t let the involtini process deter you from making them. I think you might enjoying getting lost in the monotony of stuffing and rolling and assembling. With a good podcast streaming in the background, the ricotta-stuffed parcels will be ready before you know it.
Weekend Baking:
Are you thinking about baking this weekend? Perhaps with plums? If so, I recommend you take a look at these posts, one from The Garden of Eden and the other from House to Haus. I made the zwetschgentorte today actually — delicious! — and I can’t stop thinking about Darcy’s Plum crumble.
Eggplant Involtini
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2
Description
Adapted from Tartine Bread
Notes:
- Below is a half recipe of the book’s.
- The book offers a recipe for tomato sauce, which I’m sure is delicious, but I have been hooked on Marcella Hazan’s recipe
- I used these fabulous mini gratin dishes but feel free to use a standard-sized baking dish.
- Recently I made these by roasting the eggplant for 10 minutes on one side, 8 minutes on the other, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. I also simplified the filling by omitting the thyme and lemon juice—I just used lemon zest and salt.
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- kosher salt
- olive oil or canola oil for frying
- homemade tomato sauce
- heavy cream
- freshly Parmigiano Reggiano for servingfor the filling:
- 1/2 cup fresh, dried, or panko bread crumbs
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta or homemade, which is easy and delicious
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, minced
- 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Instructions
- Trim the stem end of each eggplant. Using a mandoline, cut the eggplant lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick slices. You should have about 12 slices. Sprinkle the eggplant on both sides with kosher salt, layer them in a colander, and let stand for 1 hour. (Alternatively, skip the salting and the frying, and roast the eggplant, see notes above.)
- If you are frying: Press the moisture from the eggplant and blot them dry with paper towels. Pour olive (or canola) oil to a depth of 1 inch in a deep, heavy saucepan or large skillet (such as a cast iron pan) and heat to 360ºF on a deep-frying thermometer. Place 3 to 4 eggplant slices in the hot oil and cook until the slices take on some color, 3 to 4 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the slices to a colander (or paper-towel lined plate) to drain. Repeat with remaining slices. (Alternatively, pan fry in less oil till eggplant soften and are lightly golden.)
- Meanwhile, make the filling. In a bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, ricotta, lemon zest, juice, thyme and salt.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Spoon tomato sauce into a medium-sized baking dish or individual gratin dishes (see above) till bottom of dish is covered in a thin layer. Place a spoonful of filling at one end of each of the eggplant slices. Roll the slice around the filling and place it seam-side down in the dish on top of the tomato sauce. Spoon a tablespoon of cream (or less) over each roll to moisten. Bake until the edges of sauce around the sides of the dish are dark and the rolls are nicely caramelized, 20 to 25 minutes. Garnish with the parmesan before serving.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: Italian, eggplant, involtini, tomato sauce, ricotta
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
134 Comments on “Eggplant Involtini”
I am a newbie cook and I still mess up most items. But this one…..fussy or no, I so want to try. I also want to graduate to the awesome baking pans you have there. Wish me luck. I hope I can learn to do stuff like your bloggers have done; love the goat cheese idea. 🙂
Kelly — good luck with it! Let me know if I can answer any questions.
This was absolutely delicious, the best eggplant dish I have ever made- that said, I did do it *slightly* differently though I give you all the credit. I am just lazier and had two crazy kids running around and got a late start. So what I did was sweated and rinsed the eggplant as usual, after slicing it VERY thinly- probably 1/8th inch. I used a simple mix of just shredded mozzarella and ricotta (whole milk). I had some leftover homemade sausage marinara that I added one pureed can of tomatoes (and salt) to to thin it out. I put the raw eggplant rolls directly on top of that sauce in the pan, drizzled them in cream and olive oil and put oiled panko on top. Cooked about 40 min at 425. It was really incredibly good! thanks!
Lily — SO happy to hear this. And I totally hear you on the two kids running around. I think when I first made this I only had one :). Love your adaptation of the recipe. Seriously, it’s always nice when things can be simplified, and it doesn’t sound as though any flavor was compromised…if anything it was likely improved — homemade sausage marinara?! Amazing!
This was delicious! I blanched my eggplant and added an egg and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese to the ricotta mixture. My 8 year old stepdaughter even asked to take the leftovers to school for lunch. Fantastic and so easy!
Kristen — so happy to hear this! Great idea with the addition of the egg. And you know it’s a winner when the kiddos like it, too!
How much tomato sauce do you use?
Samantha — just enough to make a nice thin layer in the bottom of the pan — the quantity will vary depending on the size of the dish. Also, if you like a lot of tomato sauce, go for it!
Absolutely amazing! Made this with two friends tonight and we all loved it.
Jenny — so fantastic to hear this!
ok where did I miss it…….what tomato sauce did you use?
Sandy: When it’s summer, this is the tomato sauce recipe I use: https://alexandracooks.com/2011/08/11/pizza-margherita-homemade-tomato-sauce-homemade-ricotta/ But feel free to use any store-bought variety you like. There are some really good ones out there.
Mmmmm this looks delicious!! Are you serving it by itself, or does it need a side dish to be filling enough?
Emily — I think a green salad of some sort — maybe with arugula, fennel, oranges, endive … something wintry — is always nice with a dish like this. It probably is filling enough on its own, but I think some sort of vegetable or salad side dish is recommended. Hope you like it!
This is now my favorite dish ever!
Mary — so happy to hear this!!
I’ve never been an eggplant fan, but I got one in my CSA this week so I thought I’d give this recipe a try. It totally changed my mind!! This is going on my favorites list. Love love love.
April — so happy to hear this! This is a good one, right? I’m going to try it with zucchini in the summer.
I am trying this asap but was wondering what kind of all clad pans are u using have not
Been able to find them. H elp 🙂
Chloe — I use these mini all clad pans: https://www.cutleryandmore.com/all-clad-ltd/nonstick-oval-baker-set-p14132 but you don’t have to — any shallow casserole pan will work just fine. That said, I do have a weakness for all pans mini 🙂
I pinned this recipe months ago and have been dreaming about it ever since. This week I remembered to get all of the ingredients from the store…and I ate the entire thing by myself between last night’s dinner and today’s lunch (my husband hates eggplant). It was SO worth the effort. I added in some salty cheese instead of the salt and crushed garlic to the cheese filling and it was truly truly divine. Thank you for sharing!!
Sara — so happy to hear this! Sometimes it’s nice when the husband doesn’t like certain foods 🙂 love the idea of salty cheese. What kind did you use?
This is one of my all time favourite dishes – Melanzane – not exactly the same but the incredients are. Def for not frying the brinjal or salting to get rid of excess water. Grilling as is with a little olive oil, loads of garlic and fresh sweet basil a MUST. parmesan cheese and of course to top mozarella. Delish
Desiree — Love the idea of grilling the eggplant with lots of garlic and basil. Yum!
I made this tonight. I added too much salt to the eggplant. Otherwise, it was great. If I make this again I think I will go with the blanching method.
Thanks,
Laurie
Glad to hear this, Laurie. I know, the salting of the eggplant is kind of a pain. Many of the commenters have offered other suggestions for preparing the eggplant, which I have greatly appreciated.
This was so good! Little too much lemon for my taste (I think my lemon was super juicy), but it was still delicious especially on a cold “spring” evening (it is snowing again today). I roasted the eggplant on a little olive oil in the oven for 5 minutes per side and it was nice and pliable, so thank you to everyone for that tip!
Also, thank you for your cinnamon roll recipe (Molly W one), I make it for holidays and they get gobbled up every time! Delish!
Kathleen — wonderful to hear this, and glad to hear that roasting the eggplant worked well for you — frying is a pain. And I’m so happy you like the Molly W cinnamon rolls — those are an entertaining staple for us as well!
Just finished eating this for dinner and it was a huge hit! Today was my day off so I salted & drained the eggplant in the morning, assembled it in the afternoon, then threw it in the oven while I put together a salad. It was much easier to put together than I anticipated and my kids and hubby were licking their plates clean. One alteration I made was that I discovered I was really low on olive oil, so I simply pan-fried the eggplant instead of deep-frying it. I like all the different takes on it – zucchini, goat cheese, oil-and-broil – and I run the risk of being disowned by my family if I don’t make it again soon! Thanks for the great recipe!
Hannah — haha, I love it. I know, it’s nice to know that the eggplant adapts well to different preparations. I can’t wait to try this with zucchini this summer, though it’s hard to not make it with eggplant every time — people always go crazy for it. Thanks for writing in!
Liked this recipes, but it was a bit too lemony. I would eliminate the lemon juice and add some more Italian spices to the ricotta stuffing
I’m not a fan of eggplant….at all! How do you think zucchini would work as a substitute?
Ashleigh – Yes, do it! I suggest lightly sautéing the zucchini strips or lightly roasting them till they at pliable. Then proceed with the recipe as usual. Good luck with it!
I served this tonight to my 2yr old son and hubby who doesn’t like zucchini at all! (similar texture) … well my son at it if i cut it small enough on his plate that it hid in the delicious tomato/cheese sauce…and my husband ate 3 rolls and said “it’s good” and that I could make it again…i’m shocked and pleased. My variation was to just pan fry the salted slices as well, then roll a filling of bread crumbs, cottage cheese, garlic, oregano…very good!
So happy to hear this! So did you use salted zucchini or salted eggplant?
I’ve had this pinned for a while now (and I keep admiring the photo on my recipe board)… it is finally eggplant season! I just finished reading Michael Pollan’s Cooked where he mentioned Tartine Bread. Didn’t realize there would be more recipes than just sour dough bread. I’ll have to get the book!
I love Tartine Bread! But, and this is kind of ridiculous, but I have never made the actual bread recipe. It seems so complicated. One day I’ll get to it. But the book is a beauty for all of the other recipes as well as the beautiful photos.
Thank you for posting this recipe. Made it tonight and it looked just the picture. Delicious!
Wonderful to hear this! And I knew what you meant 🙂
I meant to say it looked just like the picture, oops! So good.
Just made this for valentines day and I thought it was actually very easy! And we both thought it was SO DELICIOUS!
I would have laid off a little bit on the lemon – it was a tad overpowering. But otherwise an amazing dish. Thanks!
Wonderful to hear this! I am glad you thought it was easy! I should make a note about the lemon. THanks for writing in!
This made for a very enjoyable vegetarian weekday dinner — at once comforting and light.
As much as fried aubergine is delicious, I couldn’t bear the fuss (and unhealthiness) that this step would bring to the dish, so I grilled it instead and thought that the slightly charred aubergine added a nice flavour dimension to the dish.
Also, I didn’t make a tomato sauce especially for this: I just poured passata straight into the dish that I was going to serve from (to minimise washing up!) and added a little minced garlic, some salt, pepper and olive oil. This is something I picked up from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook where she makes a quick ratatouille by layering up thin slices of vegetables on this super-lazy tomato sauce and I have found it to work just fine for these kinds of dishes.
Finally, the ricotta filling for the aubergine was a great one and came together in minutes. I liked it with the full amount of lemon by the way!
Thanks for another great recipe Alexandra — I’m yet to be let down by any! In fact, many of them have gone into the ‘must cook again’ category; but, unfortunately (or fortunately — however way you want to look at it), every single time that I visit your site, I get so tempted by all of the other delicious looking things here that there haven’t been any repeat performances yet!
Wonderful to hear all of this, Alex. Love the idea of grilling the eggplant for both of the reasons you mention: ease and health. I find that step so annoying/fussy, and will definitely try grilling soon. And I love the idea of using the passata — how have I never heard of that term?! Question: did you make the passata or did you buy it? I would love to have something like this in the pantry. That quick ratatouille sounds divine. Must try that this summer. And thank you for your kind kind words. It means so much to me. Really.
Hmm, not sure — perhaps it’s because we’re in different countries. 🙂 It’s an uncooked tomato purée that’s been sieved so that it has no skin or seeds. I imagine you could easily make it, but I must admit I find it a useful convenience item to buy and store in the cupboard.
As for the ratatouille recipe, it’s not as fabulous as a properly made ratatouille; however, since that takes the best part of two hours, I find Smitten Kitchen’s quick version great for weekday meals (well, it’s quick as long as you have a mandolin!). Even better is her ratatouille tart: get a square of puff pastry, score a 1cm border and part-bake. Then spread with tomato purée and top with alternating rows of very thinly sliced aubergine, courgette (or zucchini, as you say in the US!), red onion and red pepper. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with oregano (dried or fresh) and season, then return it to the oven. If you have it, it’s very nice with feta crumbled on top once it’s out of the oven.
Ok, cool, thanks so much for the info! We have a Pomi brand over hear that I really like that I think is the same thing you are talking about. That ratatouille tart sounds amazing! And so pretty, too. Love that kind of thing this time of year. Thanks again for your nice comments!
AH! Your print option doesn’t really work! Too bad, cause this looks yummy and I’d really like to try it!
Thanks for this recipe! Made it tonight, and we all loved it!
Wonderful to hear this, Ashley!
Your photos are stunning, and are how I found this recipe. I recently made Eggplant Involtini from my Cooks Illustrated magazine, and it was delicious. The difference between their recipe and yours would fit right in with being somewhat lazy…you bake the eggplant, rather than frying, and you don’t have to pre-salt it. Also, you make your sauce, then cook the eggplant in the same pan as the sauce, which makes for fewer dishes to wash. 🙂 What a delicious dish…I’ll be making it again.
Yum! Eggplant involtini is about my favorite food to eat this time of year. And I need to try the baking method for preparing the eggplant, because standing at the stove is just too much like hard work. Thanks for writing in!
Super excited to make this tonight! Love the use of eggplant in place of traditional pasta shells. Thanks for the inspiration.
Wonderful! Hope you do — I love this one.
Looks beautiful and delicious–Italian-style eggplant is one of my favorite dishes!
Hi Alexandra!
I’d love to feature your stuffed eggplant recipe in a stuffed veggie roundup I’m doing for Parade Magazine – if you’re cool with that would I be able to use one of your gorgeous photos with a link back to your original post (https://alexandracooks.com/2011/09/29/eggplant-involtini/)
Thanks dear!
Felicia
Read more at https://diethood.com/ricotta-orzo-stuffed-tomatoes/#T0rQ5du4FSYd0uBi.99
Fantastic, thank you!
This is the second time I’ve made this yummy recipe!!! My husband is not big on eggplant or vegetarian dishes so we cook some ground Italian sausage and add it to the ricotta filling. It is SO GOOD!! I served it with a simple lemon-ricotta pasta that was amazing when the tomato sauce mixed with it. Just a note: the first time, it was too lemony. This time I doubled the recipe but left the amount of lemon zest the same, and it was perfect!
Oh, so great to hear this, Amanda! Love the idea of the sausage. And I could see a little less lemon being just right. Thanks for writing in!