Sausage and Ricotta Stuffed Eggplant
Servings: 4 people...or 2 with leftovers :)
Ingredients
1 medium eggplant
Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of anise seed or fennel seeds
½ large yellow onion, diced
1 bunch of wilting greens of choice (beet greens, spinach, kale, chard)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 ½ cups whole milk ricotta
3 italian sausage links de-cased, crumbled and cooked (or precooked sausage diced)
½ cup grated parmesan plus more for topping
½ cup basic tomato sauce (homemade or store bought)
Fresh herbs for garnish (parsley or basil would work well)
Start by prepping your eggplant. Take your eggplant and slice it lengthwise into ¼ inch sheets. If some are thicker or thinner, that’s ok. You should be aiming for about 8-9 slices. Heat a pan over medium heat with a glug of olive oil. Salt and pepper your eggplant slices and sear until golden brown on both sides. You may have to keep adding oil to the pan while they cook because eggplant tends to keep absorbing oil while cooking. Do not over-cook because you want them to hold their shape a bit so you can use them to roll. Set aside when done.
Take your seed of choice and grind in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add another glug of olive oil and toss in your ground seeds to bloom and toast for about a minute. Then add in your chopped onion. Let cook until the onions become soft and translucent. Add in your chopped garlic and season with salt and pepper. Julienne your greens and add those into the onion mixture as well. Season again with salt and pepper and cook until everything is wilted and combined. Turn the heat off and set aside.
For the filling. In a medium bowl, add in the ricotta, grated parmesan, salt, pepper, cooked sausage, and onion mixture and mix until combined. Taste it! Season it! Make it taste yummy! You could add chili flake, other random bits in your fridge, any spices you like. Get creative!
Preheat your oven to 350 F. For the assembly, grab a 9 inch square baking dish and spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over the bottom. Lay out your eggplant on your work surface and fill with a couple tablespoons of your filling mixture. Roll gently and place in the baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant slices and line them up in the dish. Once the eggplant rolls are all tucked in, you can spoon a small amount of tomato sauce over each one. Not too much though, go light. During the baking process, a lot of juices will form so you don’t want to make it too saucy at the start. Grate a nice layer of parmesan all over the top and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until things get bubbly. Turn your oven to the broil setting, uncover your dish and bake another 10 minutes or until everything is extra bubbly and crisp on the top!
Let your baked eggplant rest for about 15 minutes to let all the juices set up. When you are ready to serve, top with more grated parmesan and fresh herbs of your choice! Serve with some fresh greens and a slice of bread for the perfect dinner. I use the bread to sop up the yummy juices.
