Italian Rice Eggplant Timbale Recipe (Timballo di Melanzane)

mozzarella cheese

🥗Healthier: part-skim mozzarella

💰Cheaper: ricotta cheese

Ricotta is often less expensive and still provides creaminess.

parmesan cheese

🥗Healthier: nutritional yeast

💰Cheaper: grana padano

Grana padano offers a similar flavor at a lower price.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; stir fry the onion until translucent, being careful not to burn it.

Add risotto rice to the pan and increase the heat to medium; toast the rice to seal the grains.

Deglaze the pan with white wine.

Add 1 cup of tomato sauce and some stock, stirring regularly, adding one or two ladles at a time.

Cook the rice like a risotto for about 15 minutes, ensuring it is continually stirred.

Remove from heat and mix in pecorino or parmesan cheese; let it cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, mix in the eggs.

Clean the eggplants, peel the skin, and cut them lengthwise into long slices.

Grill the eggplant slices in a hot iron pan, seasoning them with salt; let them cool down afterward.

Oil a bundt pan with a hole in the center and line the sides with the grilled eggplant slices radially from the center to the outer side.

Spread the rice on the sides of the pan over the eggplant lining, making space for fillings, and set some rice aside to cover the top.

Add filling inside the rice layer; cubes of mozzarella and bolognese sauce are suggested, or for a vegetarian version, just mozzarella and tomato sauce.

Cover the top with the remaining rice.

Bake in a hot oven at 390°F (200°C) for 40 minutes or until the top is browned and hard to the touch.

Cut the remaining grilled eggplants into bite-sized pieces and add them to the remaining tomato sauce.

After baking, wait 10 minutes before turning the dish over onto a serving plate; fill the center with the remaining tomato and eggplant sauce and decorate with basil leaves.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level:

Dietary

Allergens