Rotini with Eggplant Tomato Sauce

I don’t eat a lot of pasta.  But I LOVE roasting vegetables!
I also don’t cook with a lot of eggplant but I picked some up at the farmers market and this sounded excellent!
The vegetables smelled SO GOOD roasting in the oven.  I swear, I should just roast vegetables every day to make my house smell good.  Luckily I chose a cooler day so the house didn’t heat up to much.
This turned out so good!  I have a fairly small food processor so I was a bit afraid it wouldn’t all fit but it did.  It didn’t really take up too much room. 
I also chose to puree the pine nuts in the sauce rather than just sprinkle them on top. Either way works. 
The only thing I would do different would be to add a bit of onion. I just love onion and it just seemed like it needed to be there.
Rotini with Eggplant Tomato Sauce

1 medium eggplant, mine was just under 1 pound, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pint cherry tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Pasta, I used Barilla Plus Rotini, 14.5 oz.
1/4 cup torn fresh mint leaves, I used less
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

  • In a large bowl, combine the eggplant, cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. 
  • Spread the vegetables out in an even layer on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Roast in the oven at 400 until veggies are tender and eggplant is golden, about 35 minutes. 
  • While the veggies are roasting, place the pine nuts in a small baking dish.  Place in the oven on the rack below the vegetables.  Roast until golden, about 8 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and reserve. 
  • Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions.  Pour pasta into a large bowl. Reserve about 1 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.
  • Transfer the roasted veggies to a food processor. Add the torn mint leaves.  Puree the vegetables, mint leaves and pine nuts. Transfer the pureed vegetables to the bowl of pasta and add the parmesan.  Stir to combine, adding the pasta cooking liquid 1/2 cup at a time until the pasta and sauce is saucy. 

Total calories = 2218 calories
6 servings = 370 calories per serving

Pasta Rotini with Eggplant Tomato Puree = 370 calorie dinner**

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