Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Pasta
Serves 4-6
Equipment
- Large baking dish
- Large pot
- Large skillet
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant diced
- 2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup olive oil plus more for serving
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 whole garlic heads tops cut off
- 1 pound mezze rigatoni or desired short cut pasta
- 3-4 anchovy filets
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ cup finely grated pecorino romano
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley plus more for serving
- Crumbled or shaved ricotta salata for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- In a large baking dish, toss eggplant, tomatoes, olive oil and tomato paste until combined. Season with salt and pepper. Nestle in the garlic heads and drizzle garlic with a touch more olive oil.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until tomatoes are burst, and eggplant and garlic are soft. If mixture seems dry during cooking, add a drizzle more olive oil.
- When vegetables are almost done roasting, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Heavily season with salt.
- Remove vegetables from the oven and carefully squeeze garlic from its skin (be careful it will be hot!). Gently mash tomatoes, garlic and eggplant until slightly mashed but still quite chunky.
- Drop pasta in boiling water and cook until al dente.
- Transfer the eggplant tomato mixture to a large skillet and turn heat to medium. Add anchovies and red pepper flakes, and stir to melt anchovies into the sauce.
- Once pasta is ready, transfer pasta to the skillet. Add in a ladle of pasta water and toss. Add in grated cheese and continue to toss to combine. Add in more pasta water as necessary to create a silky, cohesive sauce.
- Toss in parsley and a drizzle more olive oil. Season with more salt if necessary,
- Serve topped with ricotta salata, more parsley and more grated pecorino if desired. Mmmmmmm
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