Sicilian Eggplant Rolls

A few years ago, before being diagnosed as a Coeliac, I had started to follow a slimming program. I found that the majority of recipes suggested by the nutritionist seemed to revolve around the same ingredient: Ricotta. 

Ricotta is quite popular here in Malta. Probably the only time I used to ever eat ricotta was in the traditional 'Qassatat'. For those who are not Maltese, these are small pies which come in a variety of fillings, the most popular with Ricotta cheese or Spinach.  On this recommended diet, I slowly introduced ricotta as an alternative to butter, spread on bread. Eventually, it evolved into quite a large part of my every day diet as I slowly began experimenting with recipes using ricotta, I started to take more and more of a liking to it. 

I came across this recipe a few months ago and decided to give it a go. I actually quite liked the dish considering I'm not the biggest fan of aubergines. It's a light meal full of flavour!  

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Ingredients: 

- 1 medium eggplant, peeled

- ground sea salt 

- 1 cup rice flour

- garlic flavored olive oil, for frying

- 1 cup gluten free ricotta cheese

- pinch of nutmeg 

- 1 clove garlic, chopped 

- 400 g chopped tomatoes 

- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

- ¼ cup Mozzarella cheese

- 1 egg, beaten

- salt & pepper

Method: 

Cut the eggplant in very thin slices. Salt the slices and stack them on a plate; let them sit under a weight for 30 minutes to let the brown juices out. 

Pat the eggplant slices dry with paper towels and dip in rice flour. Heat the oil in a large griddle pan and fry the eggplant slices for about 2 minutes on each side, until crisp. Place on a plate with a napkin to drain the excess oil. 

In a bowl mix the ricotta cheese, garlic, nutmeg and Parmesan cheese. Place a spoonful of the ricotta mixture on the end of each slice. Roll and place in a greased baking dish, with a layer of chopped tomatoes on the bottom. Roll each slice of eggplant until the dish is full. Top with more chopped tomatoes and finally add grated mozzarella and sprinkle of grated Parmesan on top. Season and bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until browned.

Serve warm.