RECIPE: Pasta with eggplant, sundried tomato, and goat cheese

A fun summer pasta dish that comes together quickly for a weeknight dinner!

1 eggplant

1 jar sundried tomato packed in oil

Goat cheese

1 box pasta (rigatoni is my favorite shape here)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cut eggplant into 1-inch thick rounds and sprinkle with salt.  Let sit for 15 or so minutes… after 15 minutes, the eggplants will have sweat out some liquid.  Dry the liquid off and cut the rounds into small cubes. Place the cubes on a baking sheet and give a little spray of olive oil (if you have Pam or an expeller) or drizzle of olive oil.  Bake until golden brown, or about 20-30 minutes.

While the eggplant is baking, put the jar of sundried tomatoes, including the oil, in the food processor and pulse into a paste, adding additional olive oil if needed (I don’t usually need to add too much).

Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente (2-3 minutes less than the package calls for).  Reserve pasta water!

Heat up your sundried tomato paste in a skillet, and add pasta and about ¼ to ½ cup of pasta water (to start). The pasta will finish cooking in the sauce!

Add the eggplant to the pasta and the sauce.  Finish in the bowl with dollops of goat cheese (you can also mix this in for a creamier sauce).