Friday, February 11, 2011

Eggplant Pasta Pie

Ingredients:
Eggplant
Egg
Flour
Bread Crumbs
Olive Oil
Rigatoni Pasta
Basil
Walnuts
Parmesan Cheese
Asparagus
Tomatoes
Salt 
Directions: 
Make Pasta with Pesto; In a blender, add leaves from approximately 12 stems of Basil (about 2 cups), 1/2 cup of Olive Oil, 1/2 cup of Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese, a pinch of Salt and 1 cup of Walnuts (or Pine Nuts) ~ Mix slowly and if needed add more Olive Oil ~ Pesto should be a thick consistency ~ Cook the Rigatoni Pasta and mix Pasta and Pesto in a bowl together ~ Add chopped up Asparagus and Tomatoes to the mix and set aside.
Eggplant; In a large bowl whisk 4 eggs ~ Cover the surface of a large plate with 1 cup of Flour and 1/4 tsp. of Salt ~ On another large plate cover the surface with Bread Crumbs from 5 slices of Bread (approximately 1 cup) ~ Thinly slice the Eggplant length ways (one medium to large Eggplant is sufficient) ~ Bath the sliced Eggplant in the Egg wash, powder both slides of the Eggplant on the Flour/Salt plate and then cover both sides with Bread Crumbs on the Bread Crumb plate ~ Pile Eggplant on a clean plate ~ Drizzle Olive Oil in a large skillet and begin frying both sides of the Eggplant until it becomes soft and the Bread Crumbs become golden in color ~ Remove from Skillet and continue on with more batches ~ Allow the Eggplant to cool slightly ~ Arrange the Eggplant so that it covers the bottom of a spring form pan and comes up over the sides ~ Fill the "Eggplant Crust" with the prepared bowl of Pasta, Asparagus and Tomatoes ~ Enclose the Pie with the Eggplant that is draped over the edges by folding over the Pasta ~ If the Eggplant does not reach the center of the Pie, fill in the center with sliced Tomatoes, Roasted Red Pepper, or more Eggplant ~ Grate Parmesan Cheese on top and bake at 350° for approximately 40 minutes ~ Let sit for a few minutes before removing the sides of the spring form pan and cutting into it ~ Sapore!
Note: The Pesto in this recipe could be replaced with Tomato Sauce, if preferred.





1 comment:

  1. That sounds like a flavor sensation. What a creation!

    ReplyDelete