VegHead Chef Tina DeJesus shows News 12's Lily Stolzberg how to make eggplant rollatini with herbed almond ricotta.

Ingredients:
4-6 servings
2 large eggplants, thin-sliced lengthwise
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
2 cups blanched almonds
½ lemon, squeeze
1 lemon, zest
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chiffon
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
¼ - ½ cup room temperature water
1 (16oz) jar of tomato sauce

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400.

Salt eggplant slices on both sides. Lay paper towels on a baking sheet. Continue to layer salted eggplant with paper towels to remove excess moisture for about 20 minutes.

Mix oil with salt and pepper in a small bowl. Brush each eggplant piece with seasoned oil. Bake for about 10 minutes or until tender and slightly browned.

Meanwhile in a food processor pulse blanched almond, lemon squeeze/zest, parsley, ½ the amount of basil, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast. Pulse until broken down into small pieces. Slowly add water until desired consistency (you want it to be slightly chunky and watery-like real ricotta). Adjust seasoning to taste with salt.

Spoon tomato sauce in the bottom of an oven-safe dish.

Add a heaping tablespoon of almond ricotta filling onto eggplant slices and roll-up. Lay in the sauce lined dish. Spoon tomato sauce over eggplant.

Bake until sauce is bubbling about 15 minutes. Top with fresh basil and enjoy.