Aubergine rolled from old to bold(er)

/ celluloidrobot

Aybergines were a misunderstood fruity vegetable where we grew up.

An african origin translated into an asian staple. Solanum esculentem, born of the sun. Once avoided by cooks in blighty, as foreign as serbian grocer in a nudist colony in jakarta.

this is a recipe we have had in the family for more than thirty years. It predates smartphones, search engines and more. Life was simpler back then.

Ingredients

  • 3 medium aubergines – as long as a chef’s knife
  • 1 glass decent white wine
  • 1 onion very finely chopped
  • olive oil
  • 8 peeled garlic cloves
  • 1 large Tin of crushed high quality tomatoes [don’t skimp]
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 block [500g] of mozzarella
  • 1 wedge of decent gorgonzola – does not have to be dolce
  • a frozen cleaned bunch of sage
  • an oil brush

Method

  1. sauce the onion very gently in the olive oil, add a little salt until they are soft
  2. add the tomatoes, the bay leaf and stir
  3. simmer but do not allow it to dry to be too liquid, stir
  4. In the simmer time, slice off the skin in a 3mm single slice down both sides of the eggplants
  5. heat the oven to 180˚C
  6. slice off the top leaves and stem
  7. slice the aubergines into 5 mm slices vertically and count them
  8. oil a couple of baking sheets [non stick aluminum paper]
  9. place the slices on the balking sheets
  10. paint them with olive oil, flip, paint and flip
  11. bake them for 30-45 min until soft and pliable but not mush or rigid.
  12. remove from oven and also to cool at the bench top
  13. raise oven to 190˚C
  14. reduce the heat on the sauce to low, add the wine and stir in crushed garlic.
  15. slice the mozzarella into thin sticks- the same number as aubergine slices
  16. Assemble: pour 1 cup of the sauce into a lined baking dish and spread it into a thin layer on the bottom
  17. take 1 aubergine slice and put a mozzarella piece at the round end
  18. add a few small pieces of gorgonzola just after the mozzarella
  19. add a frozen sage leaf [with vein / stalk cut out] just beneath the gorgonzola
  20. roll the aubergine slice from the top down into a ..roll
  21. put the roll, with the loose end down, into the baking tray
  22. repeat with all the other eggplant slices
  23. pour the rest of the sauce to coat all the rolls
  24. if there is spare mozzarella, place it on the top
  25. season with pepper
  26. bake until the dish bubbles, wait 5 min and remove it
  27. let it rest for 10 min
  28. serve 1 roll at a time with a little French salad

beat that

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