Cold grilled eggplant rolls with Philadelphia, arugula and speck, a light and tasty recipe for when it starts to get warm, but also a delightful and light appetizer and a flavorful light main course. How many eggplant recipes have we made? From summer eggplant recipes to recipes with eggplant and puff pastry, these wonderful summer vegetables are often the protagonists of our blog. Not to mention all those ideas like Mediterranean-style eggplant rolls or oven-grilled eggplant rolls, which see eggplants transformed into soft and delicious little stuffed rolls in many different ways. Today, for example, they will become tasty and light chilled rolls, filled with speck, spreadable cheese and arugula — a really easy and super tasty recipe that will win you over. Ready to discover it together? Let’s run to the kitchen and roll up our sleeves, but before rushing to the stove to discover how to make the cold eggplant rolls, I remind you that if you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here)
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Fall
Ingredients for Cold Grilled Eggplant Rolls
- 1 eggplant (large)
- to taste arugula
- to taste salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste spreadable cheese
- to taste speck
- to taste parsley
Tools
- Cast-iron pan/griddle
- Microwave oven
Steps to make Cold Grilled Eggplant Rolls
For this recipe I grilled the eggplants on the stovetop and then reheated them in the microwave to make them softer, but this is not a mandatory step. If you don’t have a microwave and still want very soft eggplants, you can grill them in the oven following the method I use in this recipe: Quick savory tart with puff pastry and eggplant.
Wash the eggplants and peel them. Slice them about 3/8 inch thick and meanwhile preheat a cast-iron pan. Cook the slices on both sides, seasoning them lightly with salt; as you go, collect them on a flat plate, add a drizzle of oil and keep them warm by stacking them one on top of another and covering them with another plate.
Once all the slices are cooked and grilled, to make them even softer use a trick that is not essential but very useful: place the eggplants in the microwave for about 5 minutes and after that let them rest another 5 minutes. The eggplants will finish cooking and become soft without drying out.
With all the slices cooked, arrange them neatly on a work surface. Spread a little cream cheese on each slice, a bit of chopped parsley if you like, the speck,
add the arugula and roll them up; arrange on a plate and drizzle with a little oil. Our grilled eggplant rolls are ready — you can enjoy this dish either at room temperature or chilled right from the fridge. If you want to store it in the fridge for a few hours (24 hours maximum), remember to cover the plate with plastic wrap.
If you don’t like eggplant you can substitute zucchini; if you don’t eat meat you can omit the speck and make a vegetarian version of the same dish.
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