These delicious little parcels make a perfect canape, or they can be baked with a peperonata sauce for a hearty vegetarian main. The recipe has also been featured in Oxfam’s new cookbook Stop Hunger Start Cooking. If you make it, post a picture on Twitter, tag it with #stophungerstartcooking, and you could win some delicious Oxfam prizes! 🙂
Involtini:
- 2 medium sized eggplants
- 1 log (150g) goats cheese
- 150g ricotta cheese
- large handful baby spinach leaves
- 5 fresh sage leaves
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil
- pepper
Peperonata sauce:
- 2 red capsicums, diced
- 1 yellow capsicum, diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- a handful of flat-leaf parsley, including stalks, roughly chopped (keep separate)
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- salt and pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
To serve as part of an antipasto platter:
- Slice the eggplants lengthways, into slices half a centimentre thick.
- Spray or brush liberally with olive oil and grill or barbecue for approximately 3 minutes each side, or until cooked through.
- Finely chop the spinach and sage leaves.
- Combine the goats cheese, ricotta, spinach, sage and olive oil.
- Season with a generous grinding of fresh pepper.
- Spread each slice of eggplant with a spoonful of the cheese mixture and roll up.
To serve as a main dish:
- Make the peperonata sauce: saute the capsicum in some olive oil over medium heat.
- Cook slowly, covered, for 10 minutes until sweet and soft.
- Add the onion to the pan and cook for another 20 minutes.
- Add the garlic and parsley stalks and fry for a minute.
- Stir in the vinegar then season to taste.
- Place the involtini into a 20 x 25cm baking dish in a single layer.
- Cover with the peperonata sauce and top with a little mozzarella cheese, if desired.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200C until the cheese is melted and the involtini are hot through.
- Serve topped with fresh parsley leaves and a glug of extra virgin oilve oil.
i love eggplant so this looks fantastic!
Me too! It takes a few steps but is actually really simple. And the peperonata and goats cheese are such a great match for the eggplant!
Yum, egg plant is so good.