Summer Reads Recipe: Dan and Erin’s Rolled Eggplant Bolognese from The Secrets of the Little Greek Taverna
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Serves 2
This recipe is more like an Italian involtini with eggplant and meat sauce instead of ricotta, but the ingredients and preparation are very similar to the moussaka Cressida makes at Mago’s request for her and Jory. This is a dish of ours that is about utilizing our favorite leftovers in a new and tasty way.
You can use any favorite meat sauce recipe for this dish—but our preference is a slow cooked classical Bologna recipe, made with a combination of pork and beef mince, white wine, milk, tomatoes and beef stock. The end result should be a rich, well flavored mixture— and the quality of this mix makes all the difference in the final dish!
Ingredients
- 4 medium-sized eggplants, cut lengthwise into ¼ inch slices
- 2 7-ounce balls fresh mozzarella, sliced
- 2 ½ cups of your favorite leftover Bolognese meat sauce
- For the tomato sauce:
- Olive oil
- Salt
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 14 ounces canned whole San Marzano tomatoes (the quality of the tomato is very important—if you cannot find San Marzano’s, a high quality canned or passata di pomodoro will do instead)
- For the white sauce:
- 1/8 cup white flour
- 1/8 cup butter
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1-2 fresh bay leaves
- ¼ white onion
- To garnish:
- Fresh basil
- Grated Parmesan
Steps
- Preheat your oven to Bake at 450° F
- While your oven is heating, slice the eggplants. On 2-3 large baking trays, rub garlic on the base, adding salt, and a very small amount of olive oil.
- Line the eggplant on the trays and bake for 15-25 minutes on one side only. You want the eggplant to brown on one side, but not burn. Depending on the size of your oven and how many baking trays you have, you may need to do this in batches. This is fine—the eggplants should be cooled to room temperature once you are ready to roll them.
- At this stage you will want to bring your leftover Bolognese out of the refrigerator to soften on the counter while you are cooking.
- Making the tomato sauce:
- While your eggplant is cooking, make the tomato sauce. Because of the quality of the San Marzano tomatoes or high quality passata, this is a fast, fresh sauce to make that you can make in bulk and freeze, as it can be used as a pasta sauce on its own, pizza sauce, or base for other dishes.
- In a medium saucepan, add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, a dash of sea salt, and grate 2 large cloves of garlic into this before you heat the pan (*cooking hack—add a splash of water to help cook the garlic more quickly without browning it).
- Cook on medium to high heat until garlic sizzles, then raise heat until the water has burned off.
- If your tomatoes are whole, blitz them first to get a chunky puree (in a blender for about ten seconds). Not necessary if you are using a passata. Add the 14 ounces of tomatoes and cook on medium heat for about ten minutes, adding salt to flavor if needed.
- Making the white sauce:
- In a small stainless-steel saucepan, add the flour and butter on low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture takes on a sandy look and texture. Set aside to cool.
- In a separate medium-sized saucepan, add the whole milk with 1-2 fresh bay leaves and ¼ white onion, infusing the flavors into the milk. The milk should be heated gently, until just about hot enough that you can’t put your finger in it.
- Then sieve mix removing the bay leaf and onion from the milk and bring gently up to a boil as you whisk in the now room temperature roux. It is important that you continually whisk and do not let any of the roux stick to the bottom of the pan and burn, or you will have to start again! Once it starts to bubble, it is ready to go—with no further cooking needed!
- Prepping your leftover Bolognese:
- Once softened, check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper—we also add a little ground cumin, but season to your taste!
- Rolling the eggplant:
- Lower temperature on the oven to 350° F.
- Create a thin base layer in a 12-inch oval ceramic baking dish of your tomato sauce, grating a small layer of Parmesan over top.
- Layer two slices of the cooked eggplant (the eggplant should be cool, soft enough to fold—but not so soft it will fall to pieces).
- Scoop a large spoonful of meat sauce in the middle. Roll the eggplant around the meat sauce and fold underneath. Then place them in the ceramic dish, and line them up like enchiladas.
- Once the dish is full, top with the white sauce, then another layer of your tomato sauce, and finally the slices of fresh mozzarella on top.
- Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes.
- Let rest for 5 minutes until it has cooled slightly, and the cheese is no longer bubbling. Serve immediately or refrigerate as is and reheat the next day.
- Garnish with fresh basil and Parmesan.
- And now, eat and enjoy!!!!
- Important note: Where possible, we use stainless steel or heavy “Le Creuset” type cookware—don’t use aluminum for this recipe!
—Erin & Dan
In a village on Naxos lies a gorgeous guest house and taverna that never opened. Cressida’s husband died suddenly three years ago – the taverna was their dream – but she’s been too lost in grief to keep that dream alive.
Marjory "Jory" St. James, a young traveler who always feels more at home on the move, arrives on Naxos in the middle of the night as if summoned by the island. She quite unexpectedly becomes Cressida’s very first guest.
Jory quickly discovers that this island vacation is more than just a sightseeing adventure as all of the women in town are more than what they seem. But when a hotel group offers to buy Cressida's taverna, it's going to take all of Jory and Cressida's drive and expertise to keep that from happening. With a generous dash of romance, deliciously tempting Greek food, and a growing friendship, can these two women find a way to finally open the little Greek taverna?