Hello Chompers!
Remember those hand-rolled canneloni I made a while ago? I liked them a lot, so I experimented with a different filling. This time, I used eggplant for the center filling and grilled red peppers and mascarpone for the outer filling. The canneloni were baked in a batch of D.I.Y. tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes and a few dried chili peppers for spice.
I think that these were even better, because of the mix of creaminess (from the mascarpone), sweetness (from the grilled peppers) and spiciness (from the sauce). Marbles slightly preferred the mushroom version, but will eat either version again, as long as there is tomato sauce in abundance. Try either version or make your own, but please do make a fresh tomato sauce. It will make all the difference!
Canneloni filling with grilled peppers, mascarpone, and eggplant
- large sweet red peppers
- 2oo gr/ 7 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 1 medium or 2 small eggplants, cut into 1 cm/ 0.5 inch cubes
- olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- a few pinches oregano
- small handful of fresh basil, chopped
- salt, pepper
- 1 portion of D.I.Y. tomato sauce, made with cherry tomatoes and a few dried chili peppers, pressed through a sieve to remove tomato skins and chili peppers
- 6 20 by 30 cm sheets fresh pasta (8 by 12 inches)
- some freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
Broil the red peppers until the skin is blackened on all sides. Place peppers in a plastic bag or container, close, and allow to cool until you can handle them. Remove skins and finely chop the peppers. Mix in the mascarpone cheese and set aside.
In the mean time, place the eggplant in a colander, sprinkle liberally with salt, and let stand for half an hour. Press out most of the liquid and dry with paper towels (this will remove plenty of the salt so you don’t need to rinse the eggplant).
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet and brown the eggplant over medium heat until very brown and very soft. The eggplant will have an almost sticky quality, and the inside will be soft and almost creamy. Add he garlic and oregano for the last 3 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Take off the heat, allow to cool slightly, and mix in the basil.
Fill, roll and bake the canneloni as per my recipe for canneloni with spinach and mushrooms, using the eggplant as the inner filling, and the pepper-mascarpone mixture as the outer filling. Serve hot, topped with grated pecorino romano cheese.
Noms assured!
