VEGETARIAN CANNELLONI
This recipe is Italian comfort food at its best and makes the most of the remaining eggplant of the late summer and early autumn seasons. We use a soft and dry mozzarella, available from the deli, instead of wet fresh mozzarella. Serve with a crisp green-leaf salad drizzled with a good extra virgin olive oil.
Ingredients
2 eggplants, cut lengthways into 12 slices, 5mm thick
2 red capsicums
250 grams soft and dry mozzarella, cut into strips
10 grams basil, leaves picked, plus extra to serve
50 grams parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve
300ml Metelliana passata 10 grams butter
oil, for drizzling
1 x 500-gram pack Il Piatto fresh lasagne sheets, you will need two sheets for this recipe
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C
Roast the capsicums in for 30 mins, turning them over after 15 mins. Remove from the oven, set aside to cool and reduce the oven temperature to 180°C
While the capsicums are cooling, drizzle some oil over the bottom of a large baking tray, arrange the eggplant slices on top. Drizzle with more oil and bake for 10-12 mins until browned on both sides, remove from the oven
Whilst the eggplants are cooking, cut the pasta into 12, 80mm x 100mm squares and cook in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 1-2 mins or until al dente. Remove from saucepan and plunge into iced water, drain and allow to rest
When the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel, deseed and cut into strips
Butter a baking dish that will snugly hold the 12 cannelloni
Divide the eggplant slices, capsicum, mozzarella and basil on top of the pasta squares and season to taste. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheeses, roll into tubes and arrange in the baking dish. Cover with passata and knobs of butter and bake for 20 mins
Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5-10 mins, scatter over extra basil and parmesan before serving