This recipe evolved from a conversation on rec.food.cooking some years ago. The rollups make unusual appetisers when cut in half, baked plain, and served on cocktail sticks, or a tasty main course when baked on top of a layer of home-made tomato sauce and topped with a little more of the sauce.
Note: unlike most of my recipes, this is not an easy thing to pull off, particularly in the appetiser variant. You probably want quite a bit of cooking experience to make it work right.
Serves 2-3 as a main course or makes 24 bite-size pieces as appetisers
Slice the courgettes lengthways into long strips, discarding the outer strips which will be mostly skin. You don't want them too thick but you don't want them paper-thin either - anything thinner than 4mm (1/6 in) is probably too thin. You should get 6 slices from each courgette.
Rub two baking trays with olive oil and lay the courgette slices on them, not overlapping. Rub a little more olive oil on each courgette slice, then bake in a moderate oven (about 180C/350F/Gas 4) for about 10 minutes until the slices will partially roll up easily without breaking (test by lifting gently with a fork). Do not overcook them - they will soften further during cooling and will also be cooked further later on. Thinner slices will need to come out first. Leave the slices to cool.
Meanwhile, make up the Sosmix with a little less water than indicated on the package (since it will absorb some liquid from the courgette strips). You can add extra flavourings here - garlic puree, tomato puree, herbs - as you wish.
To make each rollup, take a courgette strip and lay it on your working surface with the width towards you and the length pointing away from you. Take about a tablespoon of Sosmix and form it into a strip the same width as the courgette strip but an inch or so shorter. Place the Sosmix strip onto the courgette strip so that about a centimetre of courgette shows at top and bottom.
Roll up the courgette and Sosmix like a sushi roll, removing Sosmix from the top as necessary to make sure that at the end of the roll you have courgette meeting courgette. Press the end against the roll to seal.
Continue to make rollups until all the courgette and Sosmix is used.
For a main course: Spread a layer of good-quality tomato sauce in a baking dish and place the rollups on top. Spread a little more tomato sauce on top, and reheat in the 180C (350F/Gas 4) oven for about 10 minutes.
For appetisers: Gently slice each rollup in half using a very sharp knife - so you end up with two shorter cylinders. Place cut-side down on a greased baking sheet and reheat in the 180C (350F/Gas 4) oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the Sosmix has cooked through and crisped a little. Either serve as-is, or push cocktail sticks through the diameter of the rolls.
Kake's (Vegan) Cookery Site - http://www.earth.li/~kake/cookery/
This page added 11 March 2004
(last altered 14 March 2004)
- comments and questions to
Kake L Pugh (kake@earth.li).