A typical Italian rollatini or rolatini has ricotta, parmesan and other cheeses and sometimes the eggplants are dipped in egg before pan frying. I cut out the dairy and eggs in this recipe to keep this rollatini vegan. Not using cheese also lightens this dish up considerably. Instead of the cheese, I stuffed the rollatini with a delicious toasted pine nut couscous that Near East sent me to sample.
Take 2 medium eggplants. Cut off the stem end. Slice the eggplant lengthwise into 1/4th inch thick pieces. Discard the two end slices which have too much skin. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the slices
Pan fry the eggplant pieces in a skillet with a little olive oil, till they are golden (sorry, no photo!). Then place the slices on a work surface. Place a spoon of cooked pine nut couscous on one end of the eggplant.
Roll. Repeat.
Place the stuffed and rolled eggplant onto a baking dish that has been spread with margarine or olive oil. Place any extra couscous in the center of the baking dish and inbetween the eggplant rolls. Sprinkle chopped parsley or basil.
Pour a cup of marinara sauce over. Non vegans: sprinkle 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese at this stage. Bake till bubbling.
Eggplant Rollatini stuffed with Couscous and Pine nuts Recipe
serves about 2
2 medium eggplants
salt and pepper
1/2 cup couscous, uncooked
4 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
2 tablespoons chopped basil or parsley
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce, use more if you like it saucy
2 tablespoons margarine or olive oil + more to cook eggplants
Pre heat oven to 375f.
Cut eggplant lengthwise into 1/4th inch thick strips. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Pan fry the strips on a little olive oil till both sides are golden.
Cook the couscous according to package instructions. Mix in the toasted pine nuts to the couscous.
Place a spoon of the the couscous on one end of an eggplant piece, and roll it. See pictures and instructions above. Repeat with all eggplant strips. Place the stuffed and rolled eggplants onto a baking dish that has been rubbed with a little margarine. Add any left over couscous to the baking dish. Sprinkle basil or parsley on top. Then pour marinara sauce over. Non vegans can add 3/4 cups of shredded mozzarella. Bake till the sauce is bubbly, about 15 minutes.
Note: If you dont want to bother with rolling the eggplants, layer the eggplant, couscous and marinara sauce to make vegan eggplant and couscous lasagna!
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh my gosh, these are SO beautiful! Good job. I love eggplant.
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Beautiful photos, as always. These look really delicious! What a perfect way to lighten up the traditional recipe.
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looks so good.. your eggplant looks so fresh.. i find that whenever i buy eggplants they are always super big…
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Just gorgeous!
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This sounds so good! I love finding eggplant recipes that I haven’t tried before, and it’s a great idea using pine nut couscous instead of cheese.
Btw, I love your blog!
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A fabulous eggplant dish! I love that filling.
Cheers,
Rosa
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Stuffing these with couscous and pine nuts is brilliant. Eggplant dishes are already rich enough without cheese.
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Yum! Looks amazing and creative.
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This dish looks like a lot of fun to make, and to eat. Especially the eating part
I am going to make a variation of it tonight for a side dish, and I can’t wait to try it!
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I am loving the timer shots!
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Wow this looks so yummy Sara….loved it…
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That looks fabulous – love the presentation. I hope my CSA delivers with some eggplant soon!
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What a great way to enjoy eggplants. We don’t much love the cheese and this is perfect. Will have to give this a try.
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Lovely, just lovely and so original. Count me in
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I love how you made this delicious dish healthier. I HATE how most eggplant recipes seem to involve deep-frying. Just happen to have some tomato sauce to use up, too.
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Sounds very good – and very simple too. Eggplant is a great vegetable and definitely does not need to be drenched in fat, cheese and dairy to be delicious!
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Hi,
I have been following your website for quite some time now and I tried this recipe tonight..adn its come out well….The pictures that you take are just awesome..
Quick question though…While baking in the oven…Should i cover the dish with foil paper/ lid…i didnt cover the dish and the cheese came out really hard…Please let me know…
Regards,
Soumya
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:55 am
Soumya, you dont really need to cover the dish in the oven. Some things to think about – putting the dish in the top rack of the could have made the top cheese crust hard, also processed cheese can get hard in the oven. How long did you bake and at what temp?
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Soumya Reply:
July 27th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Hi,
Yes, i did use the processed cheese variety…i guess that explains the hardness of the cheese…I baked for about 15 mins on 375.
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This looks spectacular. I don’t know why I never thought of pairing couscous with eggplant before. Nice going.
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I just made this dish..it was easy, filling and tastes better than it looks. Yum, I will definitely be making this healthy meal again.
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i tried this recipe last week and it was absolutely delicious.
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I made this dish today. Came out so well. The entire family loved it. Thank you.
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