Four-Cheese Roasted Eggplant Casserole

We spent an early Easter Saturday evening with daughter Lorenzo and her Boy in her lovely townhouse. She and The Boy moved in a few weeks ago and have turned it into such a charming and warm home. I am so proud of that little nugget you just can't imagine.

She baked the ham and made Bunny Cake, Bella brought cheesy potatoes, and I brought a veggie dish.

I'm working on eating Paleo/Primal so I thought I'd bring something to fit with that. Even though I did have scoops of the cheesy potatoes and a piece of the Bunny Cake. Hey!

This had been burning a hole in my recipe file for a few weeks and this seemed like a good time to give it a try.

Four-Cheese Roasted Eggplant Casserole
1 eggplant
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 tbl dried chives
1 cup tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 425.

1. Cut the ends from the eggplant and remove the skin. Slice lengthwise into 1/4" thick pieces.
2. With a basting brush, coat both sides of each piece with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in the oven and roast for 8-10 minutes or until done. Cover with foil.
3. In a bowl, combine ricotta, cottage cheese, and parmesan cheese with chives. Stir well.
4. Prepare an 8x8 casserole dish with non-stick spray.
5. Spread 1/2 cup sauce in the dish.
6. Take each slice of eggplant and spread with roughly 2-3 Tbsp cheese mixture. Roll eggplant and place seam-side down in casserole dish. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant. If there is excess cheese, distribute between both rows of eggplant rolls. Top with the rest of the sauce and mozzarella cheese.
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 450 or until cheese is melted and slightly golden.

Serves 6.

What I would do differently next time:

1. I completely forgot about the mozzarella cheese. I absentmindedly put a bit more parm on the top of the casserole dish. I don't think we missed it! I might try it with the mozzy, but why add those extra calories I'm thinking?
2. I used a bottled pasta sauce. It was kinda sweet. The recipe calls for tomato sauce and I'm thinking I'll quickly simmer that sauce with some italian seasoning to use next time. Plain tomato sauce seems lacking in flavor.
3. I also used too much tomato pasta sauce. I thought more was better. It was just saucy.
4. I wasn't consistent with my eggplant slicing. Too thin is as bad as too thick with this recipe.

It was really good! I know some of you are avoiding nightshades for one reason or another, but eggplant has a great bread-like consistency and can satisfy that craving.