Cannelloni w Caprese Topped Eggplant

About

This Italian inspired Keto dinner is hot, cheesy, and oh-so-satisfying. The whole family will enjoy the meal, even the kids. Cannelloni pasta is made with specially prepared zucchini and stuffed with ricotta cheese and thin-sliced cremini mushrooms. After the cannelloni is rolled and placed in a bed of marinara sauce, it’s topped with loads of cheese and baked to perfection. The bubbling, golden brown cannelloni pasta is served with an eggplant side dish. The eggplant is cooked to your preferred level of tenderness and then topped with a cold caprese-style mixture of tomatoes, cheese, basil, and balsamic vinegar. If you’re not sharing the meal with anyone, you can portion and store the ingredients in meal prep containers. Everything can heat up together in your microwave for nights you just don’t have time to cook. The finished meal can be stored in your refrigerator for up to 5 days.

I Don’t Like Eggplant

If you don’t like eggplant, there are some substitutions you can make. Although the cannelloni is made with zucchini, you may substitute the eggplant slices with thick slices of zucchini as well. You can prepare the sliced zucchini in the same way as the eggplant by baking it in your oven. If you’re seeing enough green already, swap the eggplant out for large portabella mushroom caps! Again, you can prepare and seasoning the mushroom caps the same as you would the eggplant. Fill the mushroom cavities with your caprese topping and enjoy.

Why Does The Zucchini Need So Much Preparation?

Most of the prep time in this Keto recipe is used for removing excess moisture from the zucchini. Placing the peeled zucchini between layers of paper towels and weighing them down is crucial to the success of the recipe. If you skip this step, your final baked dish will be filled with water that is released from the squash during baking. It will also be more difficult to spread ricotta cheese across the strips of zucchini and to roll the zucchini up later. When the excess water is removed, the zucchini is easier to handle and won’t make your other ingredients wet.

Ingredients

6.5 oz zucchini
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon italian seasoning
12 teaspoon ricotta cheese, whole milk
2 ½ oz brown mushrooms (italian or crimini mushrooms), raw, high in vitamin d
4 tablespoon marinara sauce
½ cup, shredded mozzarella cheese, whole milk
1 tablespoon, grated parmesan cheese, fresh (hard)
6 oz eggplant
6 teaspoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon italian seasoning
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
4 oz grape tomato
3 ½ ounce mozzarella cheese, whole milk
10 leaf basil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Instructions

You’ll need to prepare the zucchini “noodles” first to give them time to dry out a little. Use a vegetable peeler to peel approximately 36 strips from a large zucchini. The weight listed in the ingredients is the yield of the peels, not the whole zucchini. You may wish to peel out extra strips in case any break throughout the recipe. Arrange the zucchini strips on layers of paper towels placed on top of each other. Once all the strips are laid out, weigh them down with a plate or heavy object to help the paper towels soak all excess moisture out of the zucchini. Leave the zucchini alone for at least 15 minutes.
When the zucchini strips are done drying, arrange three strips at a time parallel to each other, each strip slightly overlapping the last to make a cannelloni “noodle”. Each serving should have 4 cannelloni noodles or a total of 12 zucchini strips. Once all the cannelloni noodles are laid out, sprinkle the first amounts of salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning over the zucchini strips. Place 1 teaspoon of ricotta cheese at one end of each cannelloni noodle and spread the ricotta across the noodle.
Slice the mushrooms into very thin slices, no more than a ⅛” thick. You may wish to use a mandoline to slice the mushrooms, but you can achieve this with a sharp paring nice. Once the mushrooms are sliced, arrange 4-5 slices across each portion of spread ricotta cheese. Starting at one end, roll up each portion of zucchini strips into a completed filled cannelloni noodle. Spread the marinara sauce across the base of a glass baking dish and nestle the rolled cannelloni noodles in the sauce with the seams down.
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese over the filled cannelloni, followed by sprinkling the grated parmesan cheese in the same fashion. Wrap tin foil over the baking dish and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until you see the cheese bubble and the edges of the dish turn golden.
While the cannelloni is in the oven, you’ll prepare the eggplant. Slice 2 slices of eggplant per serving, each about ½” thick from a whole eggplant. Lay the sliced eggplant on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil onto each slice of eggplant. Then, sprinkle the second amounts of salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning over the eggplant, along with the garlic powder. Place the tray of eggplant in the oven with the cannelloni. The eggplant will need to bake for a total of 20 minutes or until the eggplant is tender enough to your liking.
While the cannelloni and eggplant are in the oven, quickly make the caprese topping. Quarter the grape tomatoes and dice whole pieces of fresh mozzarella cheese. Toss the tomatoes and cheese together in a small mixing bowl with chopped basil and balsamic vinegar. Once the eggplants are done baking, spoon the caprese topping evenly onto each slice of eggplant. Use a spatula to serve 4 cannelloni with 2 slices of caprese eggplant per serving. Serve with chopped parsley, grated parmesan, or crushed red pepper at your discretion.