Roasted Eggplant Ziti is an easy to make,vegetarian pasta dish. It is filling and flavorful. If you are looking to add more vegetable based recipes into your diet, this would be a good one to try.
The eggplant is roasted with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. While the eggplant is roasting you can start the tomato sauce. This is a simple sauce made with onions, garlic, basil and oregano. When the eggplant is finished roasting it is added into the sauce and then mixed with ziti pasta.
Roasted Eggplant Ziti is simple enough to make for a weeknight dinner and great for easy entertaining. If you are interested in other vegetarian pasta dishes check out Mushroom Bolognese and Roasted Cherry Tomato Penne.
Roasted Eggplant Ziti
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Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 dried red chili pepper, optional
- 1 pound ziti pasta
- ½ cup reserved pasta water
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Line a baking sheet with foil and add the eggplant cubes. Toss the eggplant with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Roast the eggplant for 10 minutes. remove from the oven and stir. Place back into the oven and roast for an additional 10 minutes.
Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large stock pot over medium low heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until it softens but do not let it brown.
Add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, basil, and chili pepper. Raise the heat to high to bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the sauce to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook the ziti.
Remove the eggplant from the oven and it add to the tomato sauce. Stir it in well and continue to simmer the sauce for an additional 10 minutes. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a bit of water, ¼ cup at a time, to thin it out slightly.
Add the ziti to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions for the firmness that you prefer.
Reserve ½ of the pasta cooking water and drain the ziti.
Add the ziti to the sauce. Stir in the parmesan cheese and parsley.
If the sauce needs to be thinned a bit, add some of the reserved pasta water and stir in well.
Notes
Adding the whole red chili pepper will infuse a warmth, but not a spicy heat. You can skip it entirely or substitute ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper for a similar effect.
2 comments
Any recipes with aubergine in them are always a winner! Like the sound of this for an easy weeknight dinner.
Thank you. It really is easy to make and would be perfect for a weeknight!