One of Ivo’s signature dishes – Special Grilled Eggplant!

One of Ivo’s signature dishes – Special Grilled Eggplant

Ingredients:
• 1 large eggplant
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) (enough to coat all eggplant slices)
• Bocconcini cheese, or fresh Mozzarella cheese (Approx. 5 – 7 bocconcini balls or 1 mozzarella ball)
• Prosciutto slices (sliced thin) (one slice per eggplant slice i.e. Approx. 7 – 10 slices)
• Salt

Method:
• Preheat BBQ on high
• Remove skin from Eggplant
• Slice eggplant lengthwise, into long ¼” thick “steaks”
• Brush each side of the eggplant steaks with EVOO
• Very lightly, salt each side of the eggplant (use very little salt – as the prosciutto may be salty enough – depends on your prosciutto)
• Slice your Bocconcini or Mozzarella into ¼ inch thick slices (coin shaped)
• Place eggplant on grill, leave grill lid open and leave heat on high
• Cook till bottom turns golden brown, typically, 4 – 5 minutes
• Flip eggplant, then add a slice of prosciutto on top of each eggplant steak
• Then, on the wide end of the eggplant steak, add about 4 pieces of the bocconcini slices, so basically, half or just less than half, of your eggplant has the bocconcini on it (or mozzerella)
• Continue to cook for about 4 – 5 minutes – you will notice the bocconcini start to get soft
• Put your grill on low, and take one end of the eggplant steak (the end with the cheese) and roll it toward the other end, making a log. With a toothpick, stick the log straight through, in order to secure in place. Remove from grill. Continue to roll all your eggplant, the same way.
• Serve hot and enjoy!

Look at Look at the mozzarella just oozing out of those eggplant rolls. There’s a reason this is one of my signature dishes. Absolutely delicious. What a great side dish this would make right here. That brush and mozzarella enhance this grilled eggplant. You absolutely need to give this recipe a try. It is so easy to make. simple ingredients, comes together quickly, and it’s absolutely delicious. Today, folks, I’m going to make one of my signature dishes. It’s an amazing little side dish or appetizer. We’re going to turn this eggplant into something absolutely delicious. So, first thing we’re going to do is just quite simply remove the skin of the eggplant cuz it’s a little bit bitter. So, what we want to do is slice I’m going to call them eggplant steaks about a/4 inch thick. Now, very simply, we’re going to season our eggplant very lightly. I’m going to add just a little bit of salt. Not a lot because one of the ingredients that we’re using is brush, and brush is already a little salty. You want to take that extra virgin olive oil and brush it on both sides of the eggplant. It’ll absorb a little and that’s exactly what we want. One of the next key ingredients is mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella, regular mozzarella, or bokenchini is another great uh cheese to use. I’m going to use some fresh mozzarella. And basically, I’m going to slice it, you know, 1/8 inch thick or so. I’m going to make some nice slices of fresh mozzarella. And once I finish cutting this up, we’re going to make our way over to the grill that’s been patiently waiting. And we’re going to grill these eggplant slices with the lid open. You do not want to close the lid. Okay. So, let’s place our eggplant steaks right on the grill. And we’re going to want to grill these until they get golden brown on the bottom. First thing we want to do to these ones that we’ve cooked, one slice of pushut goes on top. This is nice pushutto from Italy. And this is going to add a touch of amazing flavor to this eggplant. It compliments it so nicely. Okay. And now that we have the pushut on, next ingredient, folks, is our mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella. I also I really really like using uh book and chini as well. So, we’re going to take it, roll it. Look at this bundle of joy right there. One toothpick. That one’s done.