Grilled eggplant rolls: the recipe for a fresh and delicious appetizer

The grilled eggplant rolls I’m a antipasto delicious and rich in taste, ideal to serve also as finger food for buffets, aperitifs or as second dish fresh and light. A summer recipe easy and quick to prepare, in which the aubergines are not fried, but grilled: once cooked, they will be stuffed with speck, ricotta and tomatoes, rolled up to form rolls and then placed upright on a serving plate, for a refined final effect. If you prefer, you can replace the ricotta with a spreadable cheese of your taste and the speck with raw ham, cooked or smoked salmon, for a fish variant.

In our version the rolls are without cooking, except for the one necessary to grill the aubergines, but if you prefer you can cook them in the oven stuffing them with smoked cheese e prosciutto and seasoning them with the tomato sauce: just a few minutes at 180 ° C are enough to obtain tasty and stringy rolls. For an alternative cooking, prepare the eggplant rolls in a pan stuffed with provola and olives. If you are looking for original ideas for a first course, do not miss the eggplant rolls with rice, characterized by a tasty filling of peas, ham and cheese.

Perfect to serve cold and also excellent the next day, grilled eggplant rolls are prepared in a few minutes: let’s see together all the steps to make them.

How to prepare eggplant rolls

First, wash the eggplants thoroughly under cold running water 1.

Using a knife, remove the stalk and the underside and cut the aubergines into slices lengthwise. The slices must have a thickness of about 3 mm, so as to be able to roll them without difficulty 2.

Heat a grill on the stove and arrange the eggplant without adding seasoning. Cook them for about 3 minutes per side, or until softened 3.

While the aubergines are cooking, prepare the speck, making sure you have thin and not too large slices available 4.

Wash the tomatoes and cut them into four parts: the wedges should not be too big or they will make it difficult to roll the eggplant. 5.

Put the ricotta in a bowl and season it with extra virgin olive oil, salt, a pinch of pepper and the chopped basil 6.

Fill each slice of aubergine with a slice of speck, a teaspoon of ricotta cream and a few pieces of tomato, being careful not to add too much filling 7.

Roll up the slices starting from one of the two ends, without squeezing too much to avoid letting the filling come out 8. Keep the rolls in the fridge until ready to serve.

Serve the grilled eggplant rolls with a drizzle of raw oil or a few drops of balsamic vinegar 9.

Advice

You can replace the speck with prosciutto raw or cooked, or with pancetta. You can enrich the ricotta with the addition of capers or anchovies, to make the dish even tastier, or replace it with philadelphia or the spreadable cheese of your choice.

Instead of basil you can use the parsleyoregano or thyme.

Variants

If you want to make one vegetarian version you can prepare the eggplant and ricotta rolls, or stuff the rolls with spreadable cheese enriched with chopped walnuts, garlic, parsley and tomato.

For grilled eggplant rolls SicilianInstead, stuff the aubergines with tomato sauce, pine nuts, raisins and breadcrumbs, add a cube of cheese, roll up and bake at 200 ° C for 15-20 minutes.

Grilled eggplant rolls are also excellent stuffed with fish: try them with tuna or with smoked salmon paired with ricotta or robiola.

You can also prepare the rolls with roasted eggplant: cook the aubergine slices in the oven at 180 ° C for about 10 minutes, then fill them with the ingredients you prefer.

storage

You can store the grilled eggplant rolls in the refrigerator for 1 day inside an airtight container.