Meatless Monday with Grilled Vegetable Sformato

Hello and welcome (back) to the Miratel blog for another Meatless Monday. We took the Meatless Monday pledge as part of our CSR business initiatives in support of reducing meat consumption one day per week (15%) to live a healthier and more earth-friendly manner. We feature a new recipe each Monday to help achieve this goal.

Tonight we are making a Grilled Vegetable Sformato which is a beautiful, centerpiece dish that is also delicious and filling. There are a lot of steps but don’t let that discourage you as it is well worth the trouble. Also, this incredible dish can be made a day ahead and reheated or even made a few weeks ahead, frozen and thawed overnight in the refrigerator then reheated in the oven 350°F (175°C). There are many variations for sformato – both sweet and savoury – but this version comes courtesy of  Leite’s Culinaria a great site that is an excellent vegetarian/non-vegetarian recipe resource.

Ingredients

Photo © YVONNE DUIVENVOORDEN

• 3 large yellow bell peppers, or jarred roasted yellow peppers
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 large eggplants, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 6 ounces Romano cheese, shredded
• 4 ounces Fontina cheese, shredded
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 cup pistachios, shelled
• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat penne, cooked
• 1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
• Basil leaves

Directions

1. Preheat the broiler or barbecue grill and roast the bell peppers until skins are blackened. Place them in a small airtight container and close tightly to steam for 15 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel, dice, and drain the peppers in a mesh colander, pressing out excess moisture. (If using jarred peppers, drain, rinse, and chop them.)
2. Brush an 11-inch springform pan with some of the olive oil, which will act as the form for the sformato, then set aside. Heat a grill pan or use the grill. Brush the eggplant with olive oil. Grill the slices until tender and decorated with black grill marks (running lengthwise), 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Put a small slice in the center of the springform pan. Lay slices in a fan or flower design covering the bottom and sides and leaving an inch or so hanging over the edges to wrap around the top of the filled pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix ricotta, eggs, cheeses, salt, and pepper. Remove half of the mixture to another bowl. Use a food processor to finely grind the basil, garlic, and pistachios, then mix it with half of the cheese mixture. Dice the tomatoes and add it to the other half of the cheese mixture, then mix in the cayenne. Divide the cooked pasta between the 2 bowls and fold the contents of each bowl together gently.
4. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Into the eggplant-lined pan, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the breadcrumbs and distribute the pasta and tomato mixture. Level the surface and top with yellow bell peppers and another 2 tablespoons crumbs. Top with remaining pasta mixture, level, and cover with the remaining crumbs. Fold the overhanging eggplant back onto the top of the peppers.
5. Bake the sformato for 50 to 60 minutes and let stand for 20 minutes before serving to firm up. Run a sharp knife around edge of pan. Invert the pan onto a serving plate and release springform, carefully removing bottom. Garnish the sformato with the basil and serve.

We encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website  and join us in taking the pledge to reduce meat consumption one day per week. It’s easy with delicious recipes like this one. Spread the word at work to promote the value of CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant, hotel or salon even greener.

Enjoy!
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.