Red Pesto Pasta with Eggplant
This delicious Red Pesto Pasta with Eggplant is a delicious and soul-satisfying vegetarian dish that will become a staple in your family's dinner rotation.
Servings: 8
Calories: 368kcal
Ingredients
- 3 small or 2 large eggplants (about 1 ½ pounds total)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 pound rotini or other pasta
- 1 cup pesto rosso (red pesto)
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup fresh basil, torn
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel off strips of the skin from the eggplants, leaving some skin in place.* Cut the eggplant into 1-inch cubes.
- Place the diced eggplant on two baking sheets. Toss them with the olive oil and season them with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from oven.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 ½ cups of the pasta water.
- Return the hot, dry pot to the stove and heat over low heat. Add the cooked pasta, the pesto rosso, and about 1 cup of the reserved pasta water. Stir to combine. Add more pasta water as needed to coat the pasta. Gently stir in the cooked eggplant.
- Whip the ricotta cheese in a food processor until smooth and fluffy (optional step).
- Serve the pasta in bowls and top with fresh basil and dollops of whipped ricotta.
Notes
*I like to peel strips of the eggplant skin off before cutting it up. This leaves some skin intact so that the eggplant holds its shape, but isn't too much skin that it is bothersome to chew.
Nutrition
Serving: 0g | Calories: 368kcal | Carbohydrates: 47.3g | Protein: 13.7g | Fat: 14.4g | Saturated Fat: 2.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 0mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 8.3g | Sugar: 0g | Vitamin A: 0IU | Vitamin C: 0mg | Calcium: 0mg | Iron: 0mg