Aubergine Rolls with Gorgonzola

We spent last weekend in Italy, on the breathtakingly beautiful Lake Como. The mountains around still had snow on their peaks, the water in the lake was deep greenish blue, and it was sunny the whole time. Yet – sadly? – the highlight of my weekend was grocery shopping at the local supermarket! Even looking at those beautifully displayed delicious vegetables, fruit, cheeses, and so on, made my head buzz with new ideas… which I’ve been busy trying out this week!

This is one of them: Involtini di melanzane al gorgonzola, also known as aubergine rolls filled with Italian blue cheese, baked in the oven with tomato sauce.

This portion was supposed to be for two, but I was tempted to eat it all by myself – yesterday was, after all, the international no-diet day!

This is what you need for 2 people (or one very hungry ;) )

•  1 large aubergine, about 400g


• 100g gorgonzola

For the tomato sauce:

•  1 medium-sized onion


• 1-2 garlic cloves


• olive oil


• 400g canned (cherry) tomatoes


• 1 tsp sugar


• fresh herbs (I used rosemary, marjoram, sage, and basil)


• salt and pepper to taste

First, prepare the tomato sauce: in a large pan, sauté onions with some olive oil. Then add garlic, stir, and add the canned tomatoes, a bit of water, sugar, salt, pepper, and herbs. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes - the longer, the better! Once in a while, check if more water is needed.

Now, wash the aubergine and cut the stem off. Cut the rest into long, thin slices. Fry them on a frying pan on both sides (no oil needed) until light brown and soft. Let cool some 5 minutes. Then divide gorgonzola in as many pieces as you’ve got aubergine slices (I had eleven). Place a piece of gorgonzola at one end of each aubergine slice and roll them tight. Arrange in an oven dish, cover with tomato sauce, and bake in a preheated oven (180 C) some 30 minutes.

Serve with a slice of good bread and some green salad!