Caprese salad is usually made with freshly sliced mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, we’ve added grilled eggplant, drizzled with a fresh pesto. We’ve served this salad with rissoles but is delicious alongside any BBQ meat or simply by itself for a light lunch or dinner.
This Week
9 Dec - 15 Dec
Meal Prep Guide
Pre-roll the rissoles up to 2 days before cooking. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. *make sure to separate layers with baking paper.
Ingredients
- 500g beef mince
- 1 egg
- ½ cup sourdough bread crumbs
- Salt and pepper
- ½ a portion of pesto or (2 Tbsp)
Method
- In a large bowl add mince, egg, breadcrumbs, ½ of the basil pesto, and salt; mix with your hands until evenly distributed.
- Gently roll rissole mixture into balls (slightly bigger than a golf ball), then press to flatten to 1.5cm thick.
Pre make the pesto. Store in an airtight container or jar in the fridge
Ingredients
- 1 small lemon (juice)
- 3 Tbsp of olive oil
- 1.5 cups of basil
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 2 Tbsp pine nuts (toasted)
- ¼ cup of parmesan (grated)
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Method
- Combine the lemon juice, olive oil, basil and garlic into a blender or food processor and blend for a few seconds until combined. Add the pine nuts, parmesan, salt and pepper; blend for a few more seconds until fully incorporated. (you will use half this pesto in the rissoles and half in a dressing)
Tips
Tips
- You can cook this meal either on the BBQ or in the oven. Follow the instructions that suit you!
- If you don’t have a ‘brush’, simply fill a shallow bowl with some olive oil, quickly dip and flip the eggplant and rissoles (one at a time) to cover in the oil, then place onto a baking tray.
- The breadcrumbs prevent the rissoles from going dry, trapping the juices from the meat within the rissoles.
Shortcuts
Vegetables
- Grill or roast a medley of summer vegetables like zucchini and capsicum.
Protein
- Swap meatballs for our vegan black bean meatballs. Simply swap the spices for pesto.
Other
- Omit the homemade pesto and use store bought.
- Swap mozzarella for stracciatella or burrata.
Ingredients
Basil Pesto (half portion used in dressing and half in rissoles)
- 1 small lemon (juice)
- 3 Tbsp of olive oil
- 1.5 cups of basil
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 2 Tbsp pine nuts (toasted)
- ¼ cup of parmesan (grated)
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Rissoles
- 500g beef mince
- 1 egg
- ½ cup sourdough bread crumbs
- Salt and pepper
- ½ portion of pesto
Eggplant Caprese Salad
- 2 eggplants (cut into 1cm rounds)
- Olive oil
- 150g fresh mozzarella (sliced)
- 250g cherry tomatoes (halved)
- ½ portion of pesto
- Fresh basil for garnish
- 2 Tbsp pine nuts (toasted) for garnish
Optional
- Rocket
Method
- If you are using the oven method, preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius, fan bake.
- Combine the lemon juice, olive oil, basil and garlic into a blender or food processor and blend for a few seconds until combined. Add the pine nuts, parmesan, salt and pepper; blend for a few more seconds until fully incorporated. (You will use half this pesto in the rissoles and half in the dressing)
- In a large bowl add mince, egg, breadcrumbs, ½ of the basil pesto, and salt; mix with your hands until fully incorporated.
- Gently roll rissole mixture into balls (slightly bigger than a golf ball), then press to flatten to 1.5cm thick.
BBQ (griddle or pan)
- Preheat BBQ to medium-high heat.
- Brush eggplant slices in olive oil and season with salt. Cook for 6 minutes each side or until tender and slightly charged. Set aside to cool before adding to the salad
- While the eggplant is cooling, cook the rissoles. Brush rissoles with oil and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and rest for 3 minutes.
- While the rissoles are resting, prepare the salad, on a large plate or platter arrange the eggplant, tomatoes and mozzarella. In a small bowl add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil to the remaining pesto, mix well. Drizzle pesto over the salad and scatter over whole basil leaves and pine nuts.
Oven
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius fan bake, brush the eggplant with olive oil and place onto a large roasting tray (you may need 2 trays so that the eggplant is not crammed) season with salt. Roast for 30 minutes, flipping halfway.
- Once the eggplant has cooked, increase the oven heat to 220 degrees celsius fan bake. Place rissoles on a lined baking sheet, spaced evenly apart. Bake rissoles until browned and cooked through, 8–10 minutes.
- While the rissoles are cooking, prepare the salad, on a large plate or platter arrange the eggplant, tomatoes and mozzarella. In a small bowl add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil to the remaining pesto, mix well. Drizzle pesto over the salad and scatter over whole basil leaves and pine nuts.
Variations
Vegetables
- Grill or roast a medley of summer vegetables like zucchini and capsicum.
Protein
- Swap meatballs for our vegan black bean meatballs. Simply swap the spices for pesto.
Other
- Omit the homemade pesto and use store bought.
- Swap mozzarella for stracciatella or burrata.
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