Aubergine Pasta from Puglia
An Appetite for Puglia by Christine Smallwood: Pasta-Filled Eggplant
This family recipe for aubergines and pasta comes from a restaurant in Puglia, southern Italy, and is very easy to make.
Pasta Filled Aubergines (Eggplants) - Melanzane Ripiene di Pasta
This recipe for a hearty, easy to make, Italian meal comes from Puglia. It’s one of a number of delicious recipes that you can find in An Appetite for Puglia by Christine Smallwood (BDP, £19.99) – and it appears here with permission. The recipe was supplied by Cibus, a family run restaurant in the quiet little town of Ceglie Messapica. It's a good way to use up leftover meat. They say that the dish will taste even better if you leave it to rest overnight before serving.
Ingredients Serves 2
- 1 aubergine (eggplant), washed and halved lengthwise
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 carrot, peeled and grated
- ½ onion, chopped finely
- 1 clove garlic, chopped finely
- 4 basil leaves
- 80g meat (pork is good, as is a mix of leftover meats) finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 5 ladles runny tomato sauce
- 120g small pasta shapes, such as maccheroncini, sedanani
- 60g Pecorino, grated
Method
- Scoop out the flesh of the aubergine (eggplant) halves and keep to one side. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the aubergine shells for about 5 minutes. Then turn them over to fry the other side. In the meantime, gently fry the carrot, onion, garlic and half the basil in a separate pan.
- When the aubergine shells are cooked, remove from the oil and leave to drain downwards on kitchen paper. Retain the oil on the heat. Cut the removed aubergine flesh in half and fry in the same oil. When soft (after about 10 minutes) and the palest gold, remove it with a slotted spoon and drain.
- Add the meat to the carrot mixture and stir in thoroughly over a medium heat. Season to taste before adding a ladle of tomato sauce.
- While still warm and before it darkens, blend the cooked aubergine flesh to form a paste. Add this to the carrot and meat mixture on the heat and mix well.
- Cook the pasta in salted water. Drain when it is half cooked, bearing in mind that it will finish cooking in the oven. Put in a bowl with the cheese, then ladle in the meat and vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly so that it is evenly combined.
- Stuff the aubergine halves with the pasta and meat mixture, place in an ovenproof dish, with a ladle of tomato sauce over each half. Place a basil leaf on top of each half. Put into a preheated oven at 170-180C for about 15 minutes.
- Serve one aubergine per person with a ladle of warm tomato sauce, garnished with a fresh basil leaf.
You can also read a recipe for Homemade Ravioli in a Walnut Sauce, and read a review of An Appetite for Puglia.
The copyright of the article Aubergine Pasta from Puglia in Regional Italian Specialties is owned by Rebecca Ford. Permission to republish Aubergine Pasta from Puglia must be granted by the author in writing.
