Aubergine involtini

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These 'involtini' are something I had for lunch one day in a hotel in Milan, and started making myself back home. They're easy to make, just a bit fiddly. They're fried aubergine slices rolled round ham and mozzarella, i.e. one aubergine slice makes one roll, and I usually get four slices out of the middle of an aubergine, leaving the unused sides later to make Turkish 'patlıcan kızartma' (as I make it, 'patlıcan kızartma' is just chunks of aubergine and sweet pepper fried till tender, turned out, juice and all, on to a bed of yogurt flavoured for an hour or so with crushed garlic, and garnished with sumac and chopped parsley).

I think you could count two 'involtini' per person for a starter, three for a main course. In Milan, they were served with tomato sauce but I don't bother. They make a nice juice of their own as they bake.

So, you slice the aubergines lengthwise and fry the slices in olive oil until they're starting to brown, and soft enough to roll without breaking.

Lay them out and grate nutmeg over them. On each one, place a slice of Parma ham, some sage or basil leaves, and a finger of mozzarella. Roll them up and place them in a baking dish. (This is the stage you see in the photo above: the ham was still raw, and I hadn't yet grated the parmesan). Dredge the rolls with a generous layer of grated parmesan and bake them in a hot oven (200° C) for about 25 minutes, by which time the mozarella will have melted and the parmesan will be browning.

That's it. I did think, yesterday, of perhaps sprinkling chili flakes on the aubergine slices before rolling them up, but I didn't do it. They're good enough as they are.

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