Shopping for food in the winter is tough.  Most of the local farms close in the winter, so buying local can be challenging.  However, I frequent a local grocery/farmstand/gourmet shop in Newburgh, NY called Adams Fairacre Farms.  

Well, Adams happens to carry a lot of wonderful cheeses from local producers.  One of their suppliers makes handmade ricotta, mozzarella, basket cheese, ricotta salata and several other variations of fresh cow’s milk cheeses.  Their ricotta is excellent.  It is so creamy, sweet and fresh.  I love it!

So, I got to thinking about eggplant rollatini.  I wanted some.  So, I bought the cheese, the eggplant and a can of San Marziano sauce and planned to make a quickie- version of Eggplant Rollatini.

I began with the sauce. You, my dear readers, know much about my fresh sauce process.  However, I finished the last of my jarred sauce a few weeks ago, so I had to resort to using high-quality canned San Marziano DOP tomatoes.  I sautéed some onions, garlic and oregano in olive oil with salt and pepper.  I deglazed with white wine, added the tomatoes and cooked on a low heat for about an hour.

Meanwhile, I took the fried eggplant and rolled the fresh ricotta cheese into it.  I poured some of the homemade sauce over that, then sliced some fresh mozzarella and topped the whole thing with Mozz.  Into the oven it went on 325 for about 30 minutes.  I finished it with a 3-4 minute stint under the broiler and voilla! Eggplant Rollatini.

Michele, my cousin, joined me for dinner.  We both thoroughly enjoyed it!