Sicilian-style eggplant rolls with sweet and sour tomato sauce

Cut each eggplant lengthwise to give 4 shapely, 5mm-thick slices (reserve side sections for another dish). Arrange slices on a tray and sprinkle with salt. Cover with a clean tea towel and weight down for 1 hour with a heavy olive oil can on its side or something similar.

Meanwhile, make the sweet-and-sour sauce. Simmer tomato sauce with sugar, vinegar and pepper in a wide saucepan until reduced a little. Taste - the sauce should have a definite sweet-sour character, but may need a squeeze of lemon juice. Set sauce aside.

Preheat oven to 220C. Trim prosciutto by removing rim of fat on each slice, then cut each slice in half crosswise. Cut each mozzarella into 3 x 1cm-thick slices and halve slices crosswise to make 12 half-moons of cheese.

Rinse eggplant and dry very well with kitchen paper. Film a baking tray with olive oil and arrange eggplant slices on it. Do not overlap. Brush exposed sides with more oil and bake for 15 minutes or until underside of slices is golden. Turn and cook other side for 10 minutes until eggplant is tender. Remove from oven and transfer to a tray or plate to cool.

Spread 2/3 of sweet-and-sour sauce on a serving platter. Take 1 eggplant slice and top less-coloured side with a slice of prosciutto and a piece of mozzarella. Roll up, starting from the narrowest end, and put seam-side down on platter. Repeat with remaining eggplant, prosciutto and cheese until all rolls are snugly in place. Spoon over remaining sauce and scatter with basil. Scatter with pinenuts and preserved lemon, if using.