Eggplant Pasta | Pasta Baba Ghanoush
Here comes a slightly different kind of eggplant pasta – and what a one! I really like to experiment with the classics of oriental cuisine and give them a new drive. This time it was the turn of the incredibly delicious eggplant cream Baba Ghanoush. My goodness, I would have just made this much earlier: This fusion is really incredibly delicious and the recipe is made quickly and easily.
A new classic is born
For me, this eggplant pasta is already a new modern classic! Rarely have two world cuisines combined so well as in this recipe: Levante meets Italy! And for me, this recipe also deserves its own name. I christen it: Basta Ghanoush!
Basically, for this recipe you just need the classic eggplant cream from the Levant. Baba Ghanoush is especially loved for its intense flavor with wonderful roasted and citrus aromas. By the way, you can find the recipe for the classic here: To the recipe.
What really benefits the eggplant pasta: For Baba Ghanoush, whole eggplants are simply placed on the grill – and this is best done directly over the flame or right on hot coals. The skin of the eggplant is to be charred thereby so correctly beautifully. The smoke then soaks into the flesh and gives the eggplant THE characteristic smoky flavor that makes this eggplant cream.
For the eggplant pasta I have slightly modified the recipe for Baba Ghanoush. I have not changed anything in the ingredients. These are still:
- Aubergine
- Tahini
- Lemon juice
- Garlic
- Salt, pepper
But then the spaghetti swallows a lot of the flavor, so I increased the amount of tahini and lemon to do the eggplant pasta justice in terms of flavor. You can find the full recipe below in the recipe card.
Quickly and easily made
The fastest way to cook eggplant is on the grill. There you also get the most flavor out. But of course this is not always possible. Therefore, you can also cook the eggplant for the eggplant pasta well in the oven at the highest possible temperature. This takes longer, but the oven does all the work and you can take care of other things, such as setting the table and cooking the pasta.
You can tell that the eggplant is done when the skin has become nice and shriveled. The eggplant will also collapse after you take it out of the oven. After that, all you have to do is peel it. You can do this easily by hand. But please make sure that the eggplant has already cooled down a bit, otherwise you can quickly burn your fingers.
To peel, simply pinch the top of the stalk of the eggplant into the skin and then pull it off. Repeat this until everything is off. Then cut off the stalk and puree the flesh with tahini, garlic and lemon juice, so that the eggplant pasta is nice and creamy.
By the way, you can also bake/grill the eggplant a day in advance and then process it as soon as you feel like eggplant pasta. For example, my mom always grills a few more eggplants right away and then freezes the flesh after it cools. That way she always has smoky eggplant flesh on hand.
After you have the cream ready, you can also mix the hot pasta directly with it. I like to add some chopped parsley, a little olive oil and a few pomegranate seeds. This not only looks nice, but also gives fresh flavors with pure.
Now I wish you but first a lot of fun trying the eggplant pasta and of course a good appetite!
- Halabi, Rafik (Author)
Recipe for eggplant pasta – Pasta Baba Ghanoush
Equipment
Ingredients
Zubereitung
- Preheat oven to 240 °C top/bottom heat or fire up the grill.
- Wash eggplants and make small slits in them with a knife.
- Cook eggplants in the oven or on the grill for about 30 minutes. Depending on the size, they sometimes need a little longer, sometimes a little shorter. On the grill it goes considerably faster. They are ready when the flesh is buttery soft and the skin is crispy. After cooling, the eggplants collapse in on themselves.
- After cooling, peel the skin off the flesh. Please be careful, the inside can still be very hot, even if it does not appear so.
- Peel the garlic.
- Halve the lemons and squeeze out the juice.
- Puree the pulp with garlic, lemon juice and tahini in a bowl with a hand blender until the mixture becomes creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Cook spaghetti al dente in salted water according to package instructions.
- Mix spaghetti with baba ghanoush in a pot or bowl.
- Garnish eggplant pasta with olive oil, pomegranate seeds and plucked parsley and serve.
Notes
Nährwerte
Try the delicious pasta with bell pepper cream or the refreshing pasta with yogurt.