a pasta dish with an eggplant sauce in the Mediterranean style that meat lovers can have with chicken. For optimal results, use premium cheeses, pasta, and fresh herbs. Serve with grated or thinly sliced Parmesan. With a green salad, serve.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch slices
- salt as needed
- 9 ounces pappardelle pasta (wide fettuccine noodles)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 (18 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ pound fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese, torn into pieces
- ½ cup chopped fresh basil, or more to taste
Instructions
- Arrange eggplant slices in a colander and sprinkle with enough salt to lightly coat; drain for about 10 minutes. Rinse eggplant and pat dry with paper towels. Chop eggplant into cubes.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pappardelle at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, about 10 to 11 minutes; drain.
- Heat 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir eggplant, adding more oil if eggplant gets dry, until browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer eggplant to a bowl, reserving oil in the skillet.
- Heat remaining oil in the same skillet; cook and stir onion and garlic until golden, about 10 minutes. Return eggplant to skillet and season with oregano; cook and stir for 1 minute more.
- Mix tomatoes, vinegar, salt, sugar, and black pepper into eggplant mixture; cover skillet and simmer sauce until eggplant is softened, about 10 minutes. Mix sauce with pasta in a bowl; top with mozzarella cheese and basil.
- Salting the eggplant in the colander can be skipped, but will ensure that any bitter taste is removed and will reduce the amount of oil absorbed during frying. It’s not necessary to peel the eggplant.
- Substitute 2 tablespoons from oregano for the dried, if desired.
- Balsamic vinegar can be used in place of red wine vinegar, if desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 567 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 68 g |
| Cholesterol | 45 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 10 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 891 mg |
| Sugars | 13 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was delicious. Put it over a chicken thigh cutlet, and chick pea penne.
Followed recipe and it was delicious.
Good stuff! I put it on mashed potatoes for dinn red, on toast for breakfast.
This was easy and awesome! Used fettuccini cause it’s all I had, but other than that pretty much stuck to the recipe. Delicious and would definitely make again!
Easy to make. I added more spices.
I’m giving this five stars because of the flavor and the versatility of this recipe. I usually don’t alter recipes but I had left over barbacoa that needed used up so I thought this recipe would be perfect to make a bolognese. I did try the sauce before I added the beef and other ingredients and it was delicious on its own.
I used rotini pasta. It was a quick great tasting dish
This was fairly easy to make and super yummy. The hubby and the 6 y.o. were happy, and they requested that I make it again.
What a great recipe. I used fresh tomatoes. Everyone loved it!
Myself and my three kids loved this meal! My only complaint was that it wasn’t saucy enough.
I had leftover homemade marinara. Just added the vinegar and some leftover canned mushroom to the sauce. Yum!
DELICIOUS! Only things I did differently were based on what I had on hand: different shaped pasta and no fresh mozzarella. Will definitely make this again and again!
Absolutely off the scale. Restaurant quality. So glad I found this recipe!
This is delicious. The only change I made was I added another garlic clove because we like a lot of garlic. Also added some parsley because I think it brightens up tomato sauce.. Will be making this again because it is meatless and very tasty .
Incredible, easy and delicious! My boyfriend and I loved it. I listened to others and made 4 portions for just the two of us and was really happy we had leftovers 🙂
This is a delicious recipe! Only thing I changed was the pasta. I used half regular and half whole wheat pene. It was great as leftovers for the next two days.
This is an excellent recipe. My husband liked it, I loved it. I don’t like to sit the eggplant with salt to dry up, I did it anyway. I followed the recipe except for organic cane sugar and worked very well.
Excellent, restaurant quality recipe! I made 2 minor modifications to my taste: I doubled the amount of garlic and increased tomatoes (I used Pomì boxed chopped tomatoes 26.46 oz). Outstanding dinner – my husband & son loved it. I will definitely be making this again soon!
Really good! The only thing I changed is I used crushed red pepper in place of the black pepper, and whole wheat fusilli pasta that I had on hand. Could use more salt, but I’m trying to cut down so the recipe was great as it. Even my 11 year old liked it. I will make this again.
This was pretty tasty. Loved the cheese and the eggplant. It did need more salt. I also would have preferred thin spaghetti or angel hair pasta, but thats just a personal preference.
I make something similar when I can get fresh eggplant from the garden, but I never thought to add the red wine vinegar and it adds such a burst of fresh flavor. I used wide egg noodles because I had them on hand and I doubt any of my eaters realized they weren’t Italian and I used fresh mozzarella. Delicious! and I know the leftovers I’m hoarding for my lunch will be even better. Thank you Debbie.