Eggplant with Buttery Rosemary Pasta

This eggplant pasta is an easy way to use summer-fresh eggplant once it starts piling up at the farmers’ market, grocery stores, and in all the CSA boxes. It’s a nice change from the perennial fried eggplant and easier to make, too.

Sautéed eggplant is combined with pasta and spinach in a buttery yet light sauce flavored with fresh rosemary, lemon, garlic, and shallot. This pasta recipe is fancy-ish but not fussy and a great way to put a dent in a bounty of eggplant.

Ingredients

• Cubed eggplant
• Farfalle pasta
• Olive oil
• Unsalted butter
• Finely chopped shallot
• Minced garlic cloves
• Minced fresh rosemary
• Lemon zest
• Chicken stock or vegetable broth
• Roughly chopped fresh spinach
• Salt and black pepper

About the Eggplant

For this recipe, I use a globe eggplant which is the most common variety sold at US farmers’ markets and grocery stores. There are 10 other varieties of eggplant and I’m sure many of them would work well in this recipe, too.

The size isn’t a huge deal – most globe eggplants are between 16 and 20 ounces big, but don’t worry too much if yours is a little bigger or smaller.

The easiest way to peel it is with a vegetable peeler. Just slice off some of each end and peel off the skin before dicing it.

And, no, you don’t need to salt and drain it first – yippee! If you’re going to fry eggplant, this is a good thing to do, but for a simple sauté it’s not necessary.

How to Make Eggplant Pasta

Boil the pasta in a large pot of boiling water. Once it’s al dente drain it and set it aside.

Sauté the eggplant cubes in olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once it’s tender, after about five minutes or so, remove from the pan and set it aside.

Melt the butter in the same pan and then add the shallots. Cook them until softened and then add the garlic and rosemary. After about two minutes add the lemon zest and chicken stock.

Simmer the liquid until it’s thickened. Add the cooked eggplant, cooked pasta, and fresh spinach. Stir and toss the pasta until the spinach wilts.

Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese for serving.

Variations

• Meat: Feel free to add cooked shredded chicken or diced grilled chicken to make it more filling.
• Pasta: Bowties are cute but other short pasta shapes will work great, too, like penne.
• Herbs: Instead of rosemary, try other fresh herbs. If you want to use fresh thyme, add it with the garlic. For tender herbs like fresh basil leaves, parsley, or chives, stir them in at the end with the spinach.
• Spice: Like some heat? Add a few pinches of red pepper flakes when you cook the eggplant.
• Sauce: To make it vegetarian, use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock. You can also use some white wine – use about 1/4 cup and reduce the amount of stock.
• Garnishes: Add some grated Parmesan cheese, crumbled feta cheese, or even a spoonful of ricotta on top when you serve it.

I hope you give this eggplant pasta recipe a try – Enjoy!

More Summer Pasta Dishes

• Fresh Tomato Sauce
• Summer Squash Tortellini Bake
• Mediterranean Pasta
• Baked Feta Pasta
• Zucchini Orzo with Chickpeas

📣 Do you love this recipe? I would love to know! Leave a comment below the recipe along with your recipe star rating.

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The nutrition is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.

Post and photos updated from the archives. First published in August 2009.