One of my most favorite aspects about blogging is meeting people who are not only quality writers/photographers/recipe creators, but they are quality people as well. Heather, over at Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes, {how much do you love THAT name?} is just that type of person. An all-around beautiful person, Heather inspires me to take better pictures, to push myself with my recipes {take this recipe for example, she is always doing new and inventive ways to eat}, and to be a more supportive presence among my blogging friends. I heart this girl and you should too.

Can I tell you how excited I am to be part of Cara’s ah-maz-ing “people you should know” line up here at Fork and Beans; super excited to say the least. Honestly I’m not sure who found who, but what I do know for sure is that I fell instantly head over heels in love with Cara and her magnificent Blog – Cara was definitely blessed with the creativity gene along with the best personality and sense of humor a girl could have, she was my first true “blogging buddy“ that I connected with. So, today I am sharing with you a savory recipe full of flavor that will have you going back for seconds, a recipe that will convert all those non eggplant haters into lovers….lovers of eggplant that is.

Eggplant Rollatini is perfect for a fancy pants dinner with your parents, for a boy (or girl) you are trying to impress or a quick weeknight dinner .

Eggplant is thinly sliced and salted. The salting part is not optional, this is what separates exceptional from eh, I think I’ll pass on seconds. Salting the eggplant will release the bitterness of the eggplant and will also help with tenderizing.

A Parsley Tofu Ricotta is whipped up in your food processor – this is my stand by “ricotta” recipe, it is very forgiving you can toss in any herb or green you have on hand (the ones that make sense of course, not quite sure how well dill would do in this mix)


A dollop of tofu ricotta is placed at on end of the eggplant slice, then rolled up and placed seam side down in a baking dish that has a thin layer of tomato sauce spread on the bottom.

A bit more sauce is spread over the rollatini, then topped with fresh baby spinach & pine nuts.


Then baked for a bit, while the rollatini are baking, please feel free to dance around your living room while singing at the top of your lungs – I like to do this often while dancing with my cat.

This dish is sure to get you a round of applause, double kisses on the cheek or a second date

Eggplant Rollatini
Makes approximately 8 rollatini (4 servings)
Easily doubled
You will Need:
1 large eggplant top and bottom removed, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 tbsp kosher salt for salting the sliced eggplant

For the tofu ricotta:
7 oz extra firm tofu drained
1 garlic clove
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp olive oil
Handful of parsley
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt

2/3 cup tomato sauce ( ¼ cup for the bottom of the pan & ½ cup for the top)
1 cup fresh baby spinach
¼ cup pine nuts
Drizzle of olive oil
Assembly:
Pre heat oven to 400*
Prep and slice your eggplant
On a few sheets of paper towels line your eggplant up the sprinkle both sides with salt – allow to sit for a minimum of 10 minutes, longer is great if you have the time (up to 20 minutes)
While the eggplant is salting, make your tofu ricotta. In a food processor add tofu through salt, blend well until you reach your desired consistency – I prefer a more smooth tofu ricotta
Spread ¼ cup of sauce in your baking dish – an 8×8 square dish works well or a round pie plate
After the eggplant has sat for the desired amount of time, place a dollop (amount will vary depending on the size of the slice you are working with) at one end of the eggplant and roll up. Place seam side down in the baking dish and repeat until all your eggplant is used up.

Spread the remaining ½ cup of sauce over the rollatini (feel free to use more sauce to suite your taste). Top with Baby Spinach, pine nuts and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the eggplant is tender and the sauce bubbly.
Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 5 – 10 minutes prior to serving.

Enjoy!