My first recipe for Week 3 is Eggplant Parmesan Rolls with Swiss Chard and Basil. I found the recipe in bon appetit magazine in the "One-Dish Wonders, A fresh new direction for old-school casseroles" section. The recipe is actually Eggplant Parmesan with Swiss Chard and Mint. Kathy Wilson was up staying the weekend and the mint part didn't sound appetizing to us. We decided to use basil instead and boy did we make a good decision. The recipe took a lot of preparation, but it was delicious! I haven't cooked with much eggplant in the past so this was new for me. After I sliced the eggplant lengthwise, bon appetit had me layer the slices in a big colander with generous sprinkling of course sea salt. I then let it sit to "sweat" for almost an hour. This process removes excess water from the eggplant so the dish doesn't become watery while baking.
The recipe calls for eggplant, swiss chard, eggs, whole-milk ricotta, parmesan cheese, tomato sauce, water-packed mozzarella and mint, which I substituted with basil. This is a healthy version of eggplant parmesan because it doesn't call for breading. The eggplant slices are grilled in the oven and then the filling is rolled into each slice. One of the best parts of the dish was the fresh mozzarella. Metropolitan Market had a beautiful hand-rolled ball that was out of this world delicious. If only everything tasted as good as fresh, hand-rolled mozzarella. Sigh.....
Kathy and I were gabbing in the kitchen (let's just say I was easily distracted) so she assisted me by reading much of the recipe out loud. Thank you for your help, Kath. :) Kathy really liked the recipe as did Brad, but he isn't sure what he thinks about eggplant. I think he prefers noodles to eggplant in an italian inspired casserole. Looks like lasagna is in my cooking future. Olivia ate a few bites of eggplant but she was mostly in it for the mozzarella. She ate all of her cheese as well as most of mine. My girl has good taste, that's for sure.
My next guinea pigs are Pamela and Andrew Harnish on Friday night. Hmmmm, what to do.....
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