An involuntarily vegetarian involtino

As a self-professed lover of all things con carne, I feel a little bit of self betrayal blogging about vegetarian delights. I think I've mentioned this in the past before, but my current dating situation finds me fraternizing with this health-oriented loser. Consequently, the menu at home has been changing in order to accomodate his fine, pescatarian ass. My gristle-loving self has been coping pretty decently as I increase my cheap prosecco intake at dinner time and do unto vegetables as I would do unto meat. The result: a nice recipe for some vegetable involtini. Or...roulade...I don't actually know what the difference between the two is.

Meatless Involtini for my favorite piece of meat

1 large eggplant

1 yellow zucchini

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan

A goodly hunk of buffalo mozzarella

1/4 cup chopped basil

1 egg

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 shallot, finely minced

2 cups of tomato sauce

olive oil

salt+pepper

Start by pre-heating your oven to 400 degrees and spooning a thin layer of tomato sauce into a 9"x9" baking dish (or whatever you find handy I suppose). Make the filling by mixing the ricotta, parmesan, egg, and basil together in a bowl. Fry up the garlic and shallot in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat until they soften and start to brown, then mix into the rest of the filling. Season to taste with salt and pepper (lots of parmesan means you probably won't need much salt) and set aside for now.

Thinly slice the eggplant and zucchini lengthwise - thinner than 1/4", otherwise they won't roll up very cooperatively. A mandolin would make this easy, but even a calamitous dope such as myself was able to make it happen with a $16 ikea knife. If you still have trouble getting your veg to cooperate in the rolling process, try blanching the strips in hot water or maybe even grilling them for a short period of time in order to make them more pliable. After all of that fussing, layer a slice of zuccini over a slice of eggplant and spoon a heaped tablespoon of cheese filling onto one end of the strips. Carefully roll it up without squeezing too hard, and let rest in your sauced baking vessel.

Before all of the rolls were in place (effectively keeping each other from unfurling) I improvised by smushing them together with an orange I had lying around which worked pretty well. Once they're all rolled up and arranged you can season them with a little salt and pepper, then top with the remainder of your tomato sauce and a few generous slices of mozzarella. I found that I actually had some leftover zucchini, so I just sauteed it, pureed it, and then mixed it in with my tomato sauce. Put the dish into the oven uncovered and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is nicely browned. Enjoy with a few tomatoes tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and thank jeebus for the fact that your man will, at the very least, allow for the consumption of cheese.