That looks yummy! Thanks for sharing that, AnnabelleMcB.

Just in case mascarpone is hard to find in your area, here's a quickie recipe for mascarpone substitute. it's quite good!

To make 10 ounces of mascarpone cheese substitute:

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 1/2 tablespoons sour cream

Directions
Mix well and store in refrigerator. Do not substitute low fat cream cheese or sour cream.

A friend added this one to my recipe book a while ago:

INGREDIENTS:
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee, room temperature
2 tablespoons rum
2 (3 ounce) packages ladyfinger cookies
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil gently for 1 minute, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Cover tightly and chill in refrigerator 1 hour.

2. In a medium bowl, beat cream with vanilla until stiff peaks form. Whisk mascarpone into yolk mixture until smooth.

3. In a small bowl, combine coffee and rum. Split ladyfingers in half lengthwise and drizzle with coffee mixture.

4. Arrange half of soaked ladyfingers in bottom of a 7x11 inch dish. Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers, then half of whipped cream over that. Repeat layers and sprinkle with cocoa. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours, until set.

This is my sister's recipe for dipping oil - great with warm Italian bread. When you make this, have the kids take turns shaking up the jar. ;-)

Dipping Oil

In a one quart plastic container with a tight lid, put 2 cups olive oil, 1/4 cup grated romano cheese, 10 chopped kalamata olives, 10 capers, 5 dried tomatoes, chopped, 2 cloves mashed garlic, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional).

Put lid on tightly and shake well. Let oil ripen overnight at room temperature. Then refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator an hour before you want to use it.

Eggplant Parmigiana

3 lbs eggplant
2 cups flour, placed in zip top bag
3 eggs beaten and placed in zip top bag
3 cups Italian bread crumbs, placed in zip top bag
16 oz. shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated romano cheese
1 quart of your favorite tomato sauce
1 cup olive oil

Slice eggplant, lightly salt and place on plate between layers of paper towels for 15 minutes. Add two or three slices at a time to the flour bag and coat slices. Then dip in egg until flour is coated. Finally dip in bread crumbs and fry in hot olive oil turning once and cooking until each slice is golden brown on both sides. Remove and let drain on paper towel. When all slices have been fried and drained, make layers of eggplant, sauce, mozzarella and romano. The last layer should be sauce, mozzarella and grated romano. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes of until the cheese is bubbly. If cheese starts to get to brown, cover lightly with foil.