Eggplant Involtini with Ricotta, Basil, and Tomato
Long slices of eggplant roasted until pliable, rolled around ricotta beaten with parmesan, egg, and torn basil, then baked seam down in a simple garlic tomato sauce and served over farro.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
This is what I make when I want eggplant parmigiana and do not want to stand over a pan of oil for half an hour. The rolls give you the same three things, soft eggplant, tomato, and melted cheese, but the eggplant is roasted rather than fried and the ricotta filling is lighter and creamier than layers of mozzarella. It also looks like you tried very hard, which is not the worst quality in a dinner you can put together on a Wednesday.
The technique that matters is the first bake. Eggplant slices go on sheet pans brushed with olive oil, and they need to come out genuinely floppy, not just wilted, because a slice with any stiffness left will crack when you roll it. Twenty minutes at a high heat does it, and the edges go golden brown which is flavor you cannot get any other way. While they cool you make a fast sauce, beat an egg into the ricotta with parmesan and basil, and everything after that is assembly.
Farro underneath is my own addition and not remotely traditional, but eggplant and ricotta on their own leave you looking for something to mop the sauce with. The chewy grain does that job and turns the dish into a proper dinner. I serve this to people who tell me they do not like eggplant more often than anything else I cook, because the texture that puts them off, that spongy squeak, is entirely gone by the time the rolls come out of the oven the second time.
Ingredients
- 3 medium eggplants (about 2 lb), stems trimmed, sliced lengthwise 1/4 inch thick
- 1 1/2 cups no-salt-added crushed tomatoes
- 1 1/4 cups ricotta, drained if it looks wet
- 1 1/2 cups cooked farro, warm
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 1/4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn, divided
- 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt, divided
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Slice and roast the eggplant: Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Trim the stems and cut each eggplant lengthwise into slices a quarter inch thick, discarding the two outermost slices that are mostly skin. Lay them on two sheet pans, brush both sides with 2 tbsp of the olive oil in total, and season with half the salt and the black pepper.
- Bake them until they flop: Roast for 18 to 22 minutes, swapping the pans halfway, until the slices are deeply golden underneath and completely limp. Lift one with tongs, and if it hangs down like a wet cloth it is ready. Set them aside to cool enough to handle.
- Make the sauce: While the eggplant roasts, warm the remaining oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the onion with the rest of the salt for six minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook one minute, then the crushed tomatoes and 1/3 cup water. Simmer for ten minutes, until it thickens slightly, then stir in half the basil.
- Beat the filling: In a bowl, mix the ricotta, the egg, the parmesan, and half the remaining basil until smooth. Beat it harder than feels necessary for about thirty seconds, which lightens the texture and keeps the filling from turning grainy in the oven.
- Roll and arrange: Spread the sauce over the bottom of a baking dish. Put a heaped tablespoon of filling at the wide end of each eggplant slice and roll it up, then set it seam side down in the sauce. Pack them snugly against one another so they hold their shape.
- Bake and finish: Lower the oven to 400°F (200°C) and bake, uncovered, for 22 to 25 minutes, until the sauce bubbles at the edges and the tops of the rolls have taken on color. Uncovered is deliberate, since a lid would trap steam and loosen the sauce you spent ten minutes thickening. Let the dish stand for ten minutes, scatter the rest of the basil over, and serve over the warm farro with the sauce spooned around.
Variations
- With zucchini: Use long zucchini slices in place of half the eggplant, roasted the same way but for about five minutes less.
- Lemon and mint filling: Add the zest of a lemon and a tablespoon of chopped mint to the ricotta for a brighter, more summery version.
- Baked with mozzarella: Scatter a little torn mozzarella over the rolls for the last ten minutes so it browns in patches over the sauce.
- Spicier sauce: Add a pinch of cayenne with the garlic for a sauce with some heat behind the sweetness of the tomato.
Storage & Leftovers
The rolls keep four days covered in the refrigerator and hold their shape well, since the egg in the filling sets them firmly. Store them in their sauce so they do not dry out, and keep the farro in a separate container. Add fresh basil when you serve rather than storing it on top, since it blackens overnight.
Reheat covered in a 350°F oven for fifteen minutes, or in a covered skillet over low heat with a spoonful of water in the sauce. Either way, cover it, because the exposed eggplant dries quickly. They are also perfectly good cold, which surprises people.
They freeze for up to two months, either baked or assembled and unbaked. Freeze them in the dish, wrapped well, then thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. Ricotta can weep a little after freezing, so drain off any water that pools before serving.
Notes & Tips
- Cut the slices evenly: A quarter inch is the target, and a thin slice tears while a thick one will not bend. If your knife work is uneven, sort the slices by thickness and pull the thin ones off the pan early.
- Roast, do not steam: Give the slices space on the pans. Overlapping eggplant traps moisture and comes out pale and rubbery, and you want the browned edges for flavor as much as for texture.
- Beat the ricotta hard: Thirty seconds of vigorous mixing changes the filling from grainy to smooth. The egg does the setting, but the beating is what makes it feel light.
- Seam side down: Gravity is the only thing holding these together. Set each roll on its seam as it goes into the dish and pack them close so they cannot unwind.
- Rest before serving: Ten minutes lets the filling firm up and the sauce thicken. Served straight from the oven, the rolls slide apart on the spatula.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Eggplant, ricotta, tomato, and farro each carry a different part of this plate. The eggplant gives it bulk and a silky texture, the ricotta brings the creaminess and most of the protein, the tomato sauce keeps everything bright, and the farro underneath makes it a full dinner.
- Eggplant has a spongy structure that collapses into something almost custardy once it is roasted, and the dark skin carries nasunin, an anthocyanin pigment that has been studied as an antioxidant. Leaving the skin on the slices keeps it in the dish.
- Ricotta is made from the whey left after other cheeses, which gives it a soft curd and a mild, sweet flavor, and it brings calcium and protein in a form that melts into the filling rather than stringing like a firmer cheese.
- Farro keeps its chew under a wet sauce, and the whole grain carries magnesium, B vitamins, and a fiber that makes the plate sit more substantially than the rolls would on their own.
- Basil torn in twice, once into the sauce and once over the finished dish, gives you two different flavors from one herb: the cooked version goes sweet and mellow while the leaves added at the end stay peppery and fragrant.
- As you eat, notice how the eggplant has lost every trace of the spongy texture it started with, and take the rolls one at a time rather than cutting them all at once, so the last one is as hot as the first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to salt the eggplant first?
Not for modern eggplant. Salting was meant to draw out bitterness from older varieties and to keep frying oil from soaking in, and neither applies here. Roasting drives the water off on its own, and skipping the step saves you forty minutes.
My slices tore when I rolled them.
They came out of the oven underdone. A slice that still has structure will crack along the middle, so give the pans another four or five minutes and check that the slices hang limp from the tongs. Torn ones can still be patched together in the dish, seam down, and nobody will know.
Can I use whole milk ricotta?
Yes, and it makes a richer, softer filling. Whichever you use, drain it in a sieve for ten minutes if there is liquid sitting on the surface, since wet ricotta loosens in the oven and runs out of the rolls.
What else can I serve underneath?
Barley, brown rice, or a short pasta all work. In Italy this would come with bread and nothing else, and if that is your preference the rolls stand up on their own.