Three Tables and a Rollatini

My friend and fellow blogger Mark Samu lost his good friend, Fred in a tragic accident the same week my precious sister-in-law, Lynn passed away. They say that deaths come in threes. I decided to choose who the third would be. I mean, after they already passed on. I didn't want anything bad to happen. I just wanted somebody who wasn't close to me to fill that number three slot, so I could rest easy. I assigned the number three opening to a former security guard for K-Mart. This 4 foot 11 tough talking square badge was also a cowboy, a french fry hawker and husband to a 5 foot 5 giant. He was a constant presence in court and was always in hot water for disorderly conduct. I didn't know Gary Coleman personally, yet I am quite sad that anyone would have to be number three, especially if this means there will never be a "Diff'rent Strokes" Reunion. What choo talkin about, GiGi?

In Reverence to Fred please visit...http://wheresmrpeabody.com/2010/05/12/thank-fred/
This is the veganized version of Fred's famous "Eggplant Rollatini"

1 eggpplant peeled and sliced 1/4" lengthwise
1 C vegan bread crumbs (365 is a good choice)
1 C plain rice milk
3 T olive oil
1 vegan sausage chopped
1 pound firm organic tofu (drained and pressed)
1/2 cup thawed frozen spinach
1/4 C nutritional yeast
2 T olive oil
Sea salt to taste
2 C marinara sauce
10 oz package of "follow your heart" mozzarella, shredded (or mozzarella of yoiur choice)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While tofu is draining, batter and fry the eggplant. To batter, place rice mik in one bowl and bread crumbs in a separate pie plate or flat dish. Heat fry pan, and add oil. Place eggplant slice first in rice milk, and then bread crumbs. Fry 1-3 minutes on each side until all eggplant pieces are done. Drain on a paper towel lined plate. In same pan, fry onion and garlic 'til lightly browned. Add vegan sausage and cook for about a minute and a half. Set aside.

Make Ricotta.
Crumble tofu into a big bowl. Add lemon, olive oil, spinach, nutrtitional yeast and sea salt. Mix well. Add the vegan sausage mixture to the ricotta crumble. Mix well again. Now you are ready to roll!
Add a about 2-3 tablespoons of  marinara sauce to bottom of medium sized pyrex pan. Place 4 eggplant slices lenghtwise,(facing you) on top of the marinara. Add 1.5-2T of ricotta/sausage mixture to the center of each eggplant slice and roll. Seam side should be down. Top  with 1-1.5 T of sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella.
Add the remaining eggplant and repeat the procedure. You will have ricotta mixture left over. You have a few options here.You can save it for another recipe. You can sprinkle over a side salad, or if there is room left over in the pan you can add and bake.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Thank You for the recipe Fred. It was delicious. Three dinner tables won't be the same this year.