Skip to main content

Eggplant Marinara Pasta Casserole

This was very tasty. Maybe a tad dry - I might add another small can of diced tomatoes to this recipe. But otherwise, really tasty and easy to put together!

Eggplant Marinara Pasta Casserole
Cooking Light 

6 c eggplant, cubed (about 1 lb)
1 tsp salt, divided
2 c onions, chopped
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c wine
1 T basil, chopped
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (again, I would increase)
16 oz penne pasta, uncooked
1 c fontina cheese, shredded (4 oz)
1 3" piece baguette
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, grated (2 oz)


Cube eggplant. Place in a colander and sprinkle generously with salt. Let set 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450. Arrange eggplant in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with Pam. Bake 30 minutes, stirring after 15. Remove from baking sheet to cool.

Add oil to a Dutch oven. Cook onion and garlic for about 6 minutes, to soften. Add wine and cook until liquid evaporates, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Stir in basil, oregano, salt, pepper and diced tomatoes. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover partially, lower heat to keep at a simmer, and cook 20 minutes.


Remove from heat and add eggplant.

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain, reserving 1/4 c of cooking water. Add reserved water to the tomato mixture and stir well.

Spoon pasta mixture into a 13x9" casserole dish coated with Pam. Sprinkle evenly with fontina.

Place baguette in a food processor. Pulse 10 times, or until you have about 1 1/2 c crumbs. Add parmesan to processor and pulse. Sprinkle this mixture over the casserole dish.

Bake at 450 for 12 minutes, or until cheese melts and begins to brown.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chicken Traybake with Roasted Poblano and Tomato Salsa

  This dish is delicious! Easy! And, beautiful to look at! The original recipe calls for you to process all the cooked vegetables together into a chunky salsa, but I recommend serving it as is so you have an automatic side dish. The original also calls for cooking chicken bone-in, but, the more I cook traybakes, the more I advocate for slicing chicken into tenders and cooking boneless. Just a safer bake that way because everything comes to the same temperature at the same time. Chicken Traybake with Roasted Poblano and Tomato Salsa  Milk Street 1 T chili powder 2 poblano, stemmed, seeded, chopped 1 yellow onion, root end intact, in 8 wedges 1 pint cherry tomatoes 1/4 c olive oil 1 T brown sugar 1 T oregano, dried 3 lb chicken, bone-in, skin-on, trimmed 10 cloves garlic, peeled 1 T vinegar 1/4 c cilantro, chopped Heat oven to 450. In small bowl, stir together chili powder and 2 tsp salt. In large bowl, toss together pobloanos, onion wedges, tomatoes, and 1 T of the chili-power...

Mayocoba Beans with Green Chiles

I love this dish so much that I can barely stand it. Delicious the night it was made, and fantastic as leftovers throughout the week. Mayocoba beans are easily replaced -- try pintos, if you can't find mayocobas. Mayocoba Beans with Green Chiles Baptism of Fire 3-4 green chiles, roasted and chopped 1 onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 T lard or olive oil 1/2 tsp oregano 1 tsp cumin pepper 1 c mayocoba beans, dry 3 c water 1 tsp salt Cook the green chiles, onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, and black pepper in the fat until the onions begin to caramelize. Add the water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let the beans sit, uncovered, for an hour. You may drain the water to remove some of the slightly indigestible sugars that cause gassiness. If you decide to drain them, add enough water back into the pot to cover the beans with about 2" of water above the beans for cooking.  Bring the beans back to a boil and cook, until tender. This will take...

Curried Chicken Soup

      I made this soup so often in the 1990s, but frankly had forgotten about it.   Flipping through this cookbook, I found this recipe and was flooded with memories. When I was in grad school, this soup was my "feeling decadent" food and reminded me of something people might eat after hitting the slopes -- a thing I have never done. A few decades long, and with a lot more experience with cooking, I realize that this is basically a chicken curry with a thin sauce and the rice already in the meal -- but don't let that in any way discourage you! It's delicious as is and is a wonderful take on what is otherwise chicken and rice soup. I have become a fan of using rotisserie chickens, especially during the pandemic. They are so cheap, and I can use the meat in a soup like this on the day-of grocery shopping, and, crunch the bones down for the freezer for making stock in the future. Of course, this soup can be made with a fresh chicken, but I have modified the recipe bel...