Vegan Eggplant Rolatini with Nutty Cow Ricotta

I received a wonderful gift for my best friend Anna!  This gift was three different versions of
Nutty Cow vegan cheeses!  I was a bit skeptical at first.  I heard a lot of hype about Nutty Cow but I try not to get to excited about new products until I try them.  Well I should have believed the hype this time because everyone of them were wonderful.  I was able to try the garlic herb, ricotta and the maple pecan.  They were all delicious but the ricotta really stood out for me.  I decided to take a taste of it before I decided what to do with it.  As soon as I tasted it I knew I had to make eggplant rolatini.  I always have eggplant on the mind but I had a hunch this would be great in my regular recipe.

Delicious!

I prepared my recipe as usual lightly frying the eggplant after skinning it and cutting it to about 1/8 strips.  As I have said before I always make extra pasta sauce so I had some ready to go.  I decided not to put anything extra in the ricotta, usually when I make rolatini I add nutritional yeast and a bunch of italian herbs.  But I wanted the Nutty Cow to stand on its own.

Next I rolled about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the ricotta in each eggplant placing each on my bed of pasta sauce.  I then added more pasta sauce on the top can placed about 1/2 cup Daiya vegan mozzarella which is a standard in our kitchen. I baked at 375 for about 50 minutes and let cool for 5 minutes after.

Yum and Done!

Daiya "Cheese" snacks

This recipe was adapted from a recipe using cows milk cheese.  I have modified it to use vegan cheese.  I am very happy with the results, as most of the snacks are already gone!  But next time I think I might make them a bit more spicy.  The vegan cheese I used was from a company called Daiya, I used their Cheddar Wedge. 

Ingredients:

• 7 ounces (one full Daiya cheddar wedge) chopped into inch cubes

• 1/2 cup vegan butter ( I use earth balance whipped but any should work fine)

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

Preparation in a food processor.  Add the Daiya and butter and process for about 30 seconds until well integrated.  Add the flour a half cup at a time pulse for 10 seconds after each addition.  Add the salt and cayenne pepper and blend for another 30 seconds.  It should be smooth and a bit tacky at this point.  Chill the mixture for 30 minutes.

After chilled roll into a long cylinder, if you would like smaller rounds make the cylinder longer, if you want larger rounds make the cylinder shorter.  My cylinder was about 18''.  Chill again for at least an hour, if you like you could chill over night.

Preheat the oven to 400.  Cut dough into 1/8 inch slices. Because the dough has been chilled this should work fine if not, you can hand work the disks as well.  Place on a cookie sheet about 1/2 inch apart and bake for about 12 minutes, or until they are a nice golden brown on the bottom.  Watch out after 12 minutes they can burn quick so keep an eye on them!

Yum and done!