Ricotta Stuffed Aubergine Rolls

Slivers of roasted aubergine, stuffed with creamy ricotta, basil pesto and mozzarella cheese, rolled up and smothered in a rich roast tomato sauce…
That, my friends, is my ricotta stuffed aubergine roll dish that I made for this month’s Ingredient Challenge.

It’s rich, cheesy and full of flavour.

My mom used to make a similar dish when we were kids and it was my absolute favourite thing in the whole world!

This is really a meal by itself, you don’t need to serve it with anything.
And it’s all done in one pot – yay! You could even bake these in smaller single-serving cocottes… {Why didn’t I think of that earlier?!}

I get together with a group of bloggers each month and we create delicious recipes using a key ingredient for each month.
Our ingredient for this month’s challenge was ricotta cheese.

Ricotta is such a deliciously light cheese and perfect for a low carb lifestyle.
It can be used in sweet and savoury dishes and works really well in baked dishes along with other Italian flavours.

I paired it with the classics: rich tomato sauce, basil pesto and roasted eggplant {aubergine} – buon appetito!

[recipe title=”Ricotta Stuffed Aubergine Rolls” servings=”2″ time=”1hr 30mins” difficulty=”easy”]

You will need:

1 large aubergine / eggplant, thinly sliced length-wise
olive oil
salt
ricotta cheese
mozzarella cheese, cut into strips, plus more, grated for sprinkling on top
basil pesto {make sure you use one with honest, real ingredients and no sugar – I love this one}
1 cup kid-friendly tomato sauce {click here for the recipe}

Brush the aubergine slices with olive oil and season with salt.
Bake at 140C for 45 minutes.

In each {roasted} aubergine slice, place a dollop of ricotta, basil pesto and a strip of mozzarella cheese.
Roll and pack them quite close together in a small roasting dish or 2 single-serving cocottes.
Smother the rolls with the cup of tomato sauce and top with grated mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 180C for 30 minutes.