Pesto & Eggplant Rigatoni Recipe
Simple and delicious veggie pasta dish
Ingredients
- 2 Italian Eggplants
- 3-4 Garlic cloves
- 1-2 tbsp Olive oil
- 2 Servings Rigatoni or your favorite type of pasta
- 1-2 tbsp Pesto sauce *you can use pre-prepared pesto if you're in a hurry
- ¼ White onion *chopped finely
- pinch salt *add to taste
- pinch black pepper
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- Parmesan *As much or as little as you want!
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 375 °F (190 °C) for about 10-15 minutes.
- While the oven is preheating, cut the eggplants into small bitesize cubes and lay out flat on a baking sheet in one layer.
- Season the eggplant generously with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Drizzle some good quality olive oil and ensure the cubes are evenly coated.
- Once the oven is pre-heated, place the baking sheet with the eggplant cubes in the middle rack and roast for about 20 minutes or until the cubes turn a light golden brown color.
- After the eggplant cubes are well-roasted, remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Bring water in a saucepan to a boil and add in the rigatoni. Cook according to the directions on the packet. (9-11 minutes should suffice)
- While the pasta is cooking, finely chop some onion and mince the garlic cloves.
- Heat up a shallow frying pan with some olive oil on a medium flame.
- When the pan is hot, toss in your onions and sauté until translucent.
- Add in the minced garlic and stir in for 15-20 seconds. Be careful as garlic burns quite easily.
- Spoon in some dollops of pesto from your favorite brand and mix in on a lower flame to ensure nothing sticks to the pan or burns.
- Check in on your pasta and if it is al dente, set aside some of the pasta water in a separate glass or bowl. Drain the rest of the water using a colander.
- Ladle in the pasta water to the pesto mixture and stir until the sauce is smooth.
- Add in as many eggplant cubes as you want. If you have any leftovers, transfer them to a container and store in the fridge for future use.
- Combine the rigatoni with the pesto sauce until the pasta is even coated and take off the heat.
- Serve with some freshly grated parmesan on top and enjoy!