Vegan Eggplant Rollatini

With some great ingredient inspiration from the Raiders of the Lost Pantry contest, I came up with this idea. You won't even miss the meat. Try it, you may be surprised.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 2  large eggplants, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices
•  olive oil (to brush over eggplant)
• 1 (16 ounce) package firm tofu, pressed for 10 min to get out most of water
• 0.5 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, drained thoroughly
• 1⁄3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 2  teaspoons dried basil
• 1  teaspoon dried oregano
• 1⁄2-1  teaspoon garlic, minced or 1⁄2-1  teaspoon garlic powder, to taste
• 1⁄4 cup green olives, sliced, drained, chopped
•  black pepper

• Tomato sauce

• 1  tablespoon olive oil
• 1  garlic clove
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
• 2  tablespoons tomato paste (I used ketchup)
• 1 -2  teaspoon honey, to taste
• 1⁄2 limes, juice of or 1  teaspoon lime juice
•  fresh basil, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Place eggplant slices onto baking sheets and sprinkle well with sea salt or kosher salt. Let sit for 30 minutes; this will decrease the bitterness and removes excess moisture.
2. Pat the slices dry, and spray them or brush them lightly with olive oil.
3. Make the tomato sauce:
4. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute the garlic till fragrant. Add the diced tomatoes, paste, honey, lime juice, and heat thoroughly. Toss in basil at the end, and remove from heat.
5. Heat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Roast eggplant till browning (about 20-30 min) flipping slices halfway through.
6. While eggplant cooks, place the tofu in a bowl and crumble it with your hands. Add the nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, garlic, basil, oregano, and spinach. Add in chopped olives. Mix it well with your hands, crumbling through fingers till it resembles a bowl of ricotta cheese.
7. When eggplant is done cooking and cooled some, transfer slices to a cutting board and add about 3 tbsp of the ricotta mixture to the end of one side. Roll up from that side, and place seam down in a baking dish until you’ve finished rolling up all of the slices.
8. Reduce oven to 350 degrees. Cover the eggplant rolls with the tomato sauce, and bake, uncovered, for about 20-25 minutes, or until hot. Serve and enjoy!