Pasta Sauce with Eggplants

Comforting pasta sauce with eggplants, tomatoes, and lots of cheese, even children will love eating eggplants cooked this way.

A delicious pasta sauce with eggplants or aubergines. Some tomato sauce and lots of cheese, and you will be able to experience a great moment, which is, seeing your kids actually eating eggplants.

Check out more delicious eggplant recipes: Eggplant and Chicken, Romanian Vinete, Air Fryer Eggplants, or Eggplant in Tomato Sauce.

Pasta sauce with eggplants

But there are three dishes that even these eggplant deniers love. First of all, the typical Romanian vegetable spread - Zacusca, then the Aubergine Spaghetti, and most recently, this delicious pasta dish with soft eggplant cubes and tomato sauce.

The recipe for this eggplant pasta started as a casserole dish that I made once, liked and promptly forgot. It took me about two years to think of it again, once when I happened to have an eggplant in the fridge, which was bought with no real purpose in mind. So I thought I'd make that pasta bake again.

I started cooking a bit too late in the afternoon, and by the time the pasta and the sauce were cooked, everybody was already complaining about being hungry and not wanting to wait so long anymore. This annoyed me a bit, but after mixing all the ingredients in the pot and adjusting the taste, I realized that the unfinished casserole tasted even better than the baked product.

So I just added the cheese that was supposed to come on top of everything, and there it was: dinner ready, and everybody completely satisfied.

How else to use the eggplant sauce?

• Make a pasta bake: Mix the sauce with cooked noodles and mozzarella. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and bake at 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is oozy and golden.
• Serve the eggplant sauce over creamy polenta or fried polenta slices.
• Serve the sauce over rice, couscous, quinoa or bulgur.
• Don't blend the tomato sauce; add the cooked eggplant cubes, adjust the taste with salt and pepper, and serve as a side dish for roast meat or chicken.

More quick pasta dishes

Pasta Sauce with Eggplant Recipe

Comforting eggplant pasta sauce with tomatoes and lots of cheese, even children will love eating eggplants cooked this way.

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Course: Pasta and Rice

Cuisine: Italian

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 374kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
• ▢ 1 medium onion
• ▢ 3 garlic cloves
• ▢ 2 tablespoons tomato paste Note 1
• ▢ 2-3 larger sage leaves Note 2
• ▢ 2 rosemary sprigs
• ▢ 2 bay leaves
• ▢ 1 can chopped tomatoes 400 g/ 14 oz
• ▢ a pinch of sugar optional
• ▢ 1 large eggplant
• ▢ ½ cup vegetable broth 125 ml
• ▢ 1 lb small pasta shapes 450 g
• ▢ 1 cup grated Gouda or cheddar cheese, 100 g/ 3.5 oz
• ▢ 1 mozzarella 125 g/ 4.4 oz
• ▢ fine sea salt and pepper
• ▢ fresh parsley

Instructions

• Saute: Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a medium pan. Chop the onions and the garlic cloves and cook for a few minutes, until soft.

  1 tablespoon oil + 1 onion + 3 garlic cloves
• Add the tomato concentrate and continue cooking for about 1-2 minutes, stirring often.

  2 tablespoon tomato paste
• Simmer sauce: Add the chopped herbs, bay leaves, and chopped tomatoes. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook for about 20 minutes. Adjust the taste with salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar if necessary. Puree the sauce roughly using an immersion blender.

  2-3 sage leaves + 2 rosemary sprigs + 2 bay leaves + 1 can tomatoes + salt + pepper + a pinch of sugar
• Cook eggplant: In the meantime, chop the eggplant into smallish cubes. Heat the remaining olive oil in a large pan and fry the cubes until soft and translucent. Add the vegetable broth, cover the pan leaving a crack open, and cook until the eggplants are really soft and all the liquid is gone.

  1 large eggplant + 2 tablespoon oil + ½ cup/ 125 ml vegetable broth
• Cook the pasta according to the packet's instructions.

  1 lb/ 450 g pasta
• Add the soft eggplants to the tomato sauce and mix well.
• Add cheese: Grate the Gouda or cheddar cheese and cut the mozzarella into small cubes. Mix all the ingredients together and adjust the taste again.

  1 cup/ 100 g grated cheese + 1 mozzarella ball + salt + pepper
• Scatter the parsley on top and serve immediately.

  1 tablespoon parsley

Notes

1. Thick concentrated tomato paste, not tomato sauce.
2. Herbs: You can replace the fresh herbs with dried herbs: ½ teaspoon dried sage and ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary.

Nutrition

Serving: 1portion from 6 | Calories: 374kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 528mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 7g

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