Involtini, rolls..

[Chufi]

Involtini. You could just call them rolls, I know, but I like the sound of the Italian word and actually, to me as a dutch girl both words are equally exotic!

What I'm talking about is a thin slice of something - meat or vegetable - stuffed with a tasty mixture of ingredients, rolled up and fried or baked. Endless possiblities! Last week I made eggplant involtini. Thin slices of eggplant (cut length-wise) were briefly grilled, then stuffed with a mixture of raw ground beef, pinenuts & basil. I covered the bottom of an ovenproof dish with a thin layer of simple tomato sauce, put the rolls in and baked for about 30 minutes until the beef was done and the sauce thickened. Yum.

yesterday I made swordfishrolls. Thin slices of swordfish (the fishmonger was not happy with me ) spread with a mix of breadcrumbs, capers, parsley, parmesan and mozzarella. Fried for a couple of minutes in olive oil, sprinkled with parsley and lemon juice, oh my this was the best thing I had cooked in weeks!

Tomorrow, cabbagerolls with a cheesestuffing are on the menu.

What do you like to stuff and roll?

[godito]

oh... I've got a good one. layer prosciutto slices, add some thinly sliced chicken breast, chicken liver patè and roll. Bake and eat... soooo good.

I also like a dish that one of my chefs made. It was thinly sliced eggplant, softened in the fryer and rolled over a crab meat salad. Eggplant Canneloni with Crab I think he called it.

[Chufi]

oh... I've got a good one. layer prosciutto slices, add some thinly sliced chicken breast, chicken liver patè and roll. Bake and eat... soooo good.

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so you would put the chicken on top of the prosciutto? Interesting, I would sooner think of doing it the other way around. But I suppose this way the prosciutto keeps the chicken moist?

[M. Lucia]

I do an eggplant(aubergine) involtini with slices of grilled eggplant- fill them with tomato sauce and basil leaves. Roll up. Stand the rolls on their ends and top each end with a piece of mozzarella. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts. Garnish with basil leaves.

A nice presentation for hors d'oeuvres, but you can also just put the mozzarella in the middle and bake them.

I only recently became familiar with the meat version, and your seafood creation sounds great.

As for cabbage rolls, I am reminded of lebanese cuisine, which brings me to one of my favorite dishes: stuffed grape leaves.

[godito]

so you would put the chicken on top of the prosciutto? Interesting, I would sooner think of doing it the other way around. But I suppose this way the prosciutto keeps the chicken moist?

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It does! You want the prosciutto outside to briwn nicely and render some of the fat when you cook it. We used to make them at least once a month for a couple of years.

[Chufi]

another roll-up adventure tonight and one that did not work out very well

I blanched cabbageleaves and made a stuffing of cottagecheese, grated aged gouda, sauteed leeks, some herbs and spices. The mix was quite firm. Stuffed and rolled up the leaves and fried them in a bit of oil.

They looked fine for the first minutes and then they became very limp and flabby, I guess the cheese stuffing melted too much, and they ended up rather unappetizingly soft textured.

Hm. The problem was in the filling I guess, too much cheese?

[Gifted Gourmet]

I have made Veal Involtini but without the cheese because it had to be kosher .. quite lovely!!

but one could also use chicken breasts for the involtini as shown here

[jsolomon]

Chufi, you may want to add some cracker or breadcrumb to the same cheese mixture next time to help keep some of the body. But flavor-wise, I think it sounds like a very tasty combination.

[chef koo]

the involtini i was taught had a layer of grilled eggplant, wit prosciutto, and in the middle a piece of bocconcini

[kellytree]

anitpasto involtino:

The other day I made an artichoke dip -- the tiny bit of garlic I put in it exploded so it was simply too much garlic.

Mistakes bring out creativity

Went to the garden and got some nasturtium leaves - plunked a blob of the garlicy artichoke stuff in - rolled it up- tied it up with a piece of chive and stuck a nasturtium flower on top.

The spicy leaves mellowed out the garlic so it turned out really good - not to mention the presentation factor - most italians dont eat flowers - except for zucchini or pumkin. Once they got over being scared that they would be poisoned they chowed them all down.

and no one died or got sick!

[Chufi]

I just can't stop rolling..

Zucchini salmon involtini:

pieces of salmon fillet wrapped in slices of zucchini (cut lengthwise). I put a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprig of lemon thyme on each piece of salmon.

They were very good.. quite rich.

I panfried them and deglazed the pan with white wine, then stirred some creme fraiche and lemon juice in the pan juices to make a sauce.

[RETREVR]

I used to make a veal involtini with spinach, pine nuts, pruciuto, and fontina.

I ocaisionaly serve chicken rolled up but it would be better described as roulade.

A true classic is wild dove breast with jalepeno and onion wrapped in bacon ( or pancetta, procuito...) and grilled. Must be served with cold beer, preferably fire-side.

[Kevin72]

For some reason, summer really brings out the involtini urge in me, too. I'm doing Sicily this month and they do lots of variations on this theme. Last night it was some pork scallopini (standing in for veal) stuffed with the standard Sicilian filling of pine nuts, raisins, breadcrumbs, pecorino, and I added some minced shallot. Tossed 'em on the grill and periodically basted them with a marsala reduction with butter and lemon juice.

Didn't get a cross-section view, sorry.