Our aubergine rolls can be served as a side to a meal or as a snack or canapé at a party. They are beautiful to look at and the indulgent sun-dried tomato cream cheese with the fresh bursts of the little pomegranate rubies is a winning combination … even if we say so ourselves!
Delish Sisters
Aubergine Rolls (Makes 20 to 24 rolls)
2 tubs (230 g each) cream cheese
80 g sun-dried tomatoes
2 large aubergines, mandolined or thinly sliced lengthways (we find we get 10 to 12 good slices out of a large aubergine)
1 pomegranate
30 g fresh basil
1 tub (125 g) shop-bought or homemade pesto (see below)
Salt and black pepper
Homemade Basil Pesto
(Keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for two weeks.)
125 g fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
200 ml (¾ cup) extra-virgin olive oil
125 ml (½ cup) roasted almonds
125 ml (½ cup) grated Parmesan
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
- Make the pesto first if you’re going the homemade route. Blitz the basil, garlic, olive oil and almonds together and then stir in the Parmesan. Season to taste, then set aside.
- In a blender, pulse the cream cheese and sun-dried tomatoes together until well combined. Pop this mixture into a bowl and into the fridge.
- Pan-fry the thinly sliced aubergines until golden, but not too crisp as you’ll need them to be easy to roll.
- Place 1 heaped teaspoon of sun-dried tomato cream cheese mixture onto one end of the golden pan-fried aubergines.
- Stud the cream cheese with pomegranate rubies and roll up.
- Line up the aubergine rolls on a platter and top with a teaspoon of basil pesto, fresh basil and more pomegranate rubies.