Roasted Eggplant Pasta Sauce
This simple but fantastic Sicilian eggplant recipe is packed with intense flavors, although only requires a few ingredients.
Servings: 5 Servings
Calories: 489kcal
Cost: $5
Equipment
- Large saucepan (affiliate link)
- Immersion blender (affiliate link)
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants large and diced (medium dices)
- 24 ounces tomato puree no additives such as Italian passata, or 3 lbs of ripe tomatoes blended
- 1 garlic cloves whole
- 8 ounces vegan ricotta cheese
- 10 basil leaves highly recommended
- 1 lb campanelle pasta (like a Rigati, or lentil pasta), gluten-free
- black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon salt
Optional
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin , optional (skip if you are on a low-fat diet or WFPB diet)
- homemade vegan parmesan cheese
Cups - Metric
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 º F (200 ºC).
- Slice the eggplants into about ¼" (½ cm) slices. Drizzle olive oil and salt on top, and place them on parchment paper. Roast them for 15 minutes.
- Make the sauce by adding a garlic clove, tomato puree, and basil leaves on top of the fresh tomato sauce into a large pot on medium heat. Stir constantly and top with a lid. Let the sauce cook for about 20 minutes; then remove the garlic clove.
- Add the baked eggplant slices and vegan ricotta into the tomato sauce, stir and cook for 5 minutes. Start boiling the salted water for pasta. Reserve a couple of eggplant slices to garnish.
- Cook the pasta according to the packaging directions.
- Blend the vegetables and ricotta into the pasta sauce with an immersion blender right in the deep saucepan while the pasta cooks.If using a regular blender, either let the sauce cool down a bit or hold the top of the blender with a kitchen rag while blending, to prevent the sauce from spilling out of the jar. Use caution.
- Adjust and add salt and freshly ground black pepper, if needed.
- Strain the pasta, reserving some of the starchy pasta water. Then add the pasta into the saucepan if preferred, mixing with the water ¼ cup at a time.Otherwise, serve the tomato ricotta sauce on top and sprinkle with vegan parmesan cheese.Garnish with the reserved baked eggplant slices.