Your thoughts - Eggplant Pasta Sauce

[Haggis]

Gday all.

Thinking about whipping up an eggplant sauce for a pasta dish tonight, no recipe, just making it up as I go along.

So far I'm thinking roast the eggplant whole with a head of garlic, pop the eggplant and gooey garlic cloves in a food processor, blitz it till smooth and add in some parsley, lemon juice and ev-oo.

What else do you think could be added? I would be tempted to throw in some toasted pine nuts but I used them all on my last batch of pesto. If I had some tahini I could definitely see myself adding some of that to add a n arabic influence. Maybe a dollop or two of yoghurt? Coriander in it might be nice, but couldn't be bothered getting any (waiting for the stuff in the garden to grow).

What do you guys think?

[Claire]

I don't think your recipe needs anything. As a matter of fact, it makes me laugh. Hubby likes baba ganouche, but there's always more than we'll eat and it will go bad. I used it for pasta sauce and it was a hit. Which is pretty much what you've come up with!!

If you like it, you could add some heat -- crushed or powdered red pepper.

Roasting the eggplant over charcoals adds a little smoky flavor to the mix.

[ironchef]

EVOO is good, but you may want to add scalded chicken stock to thin it out a bit. Fresh thyme would add a nice flavor too.

[auntdot]

Maybe a bit of cumin.

And agree, a splash of hot sauce, just a tad so the hotness is below what most people can taste, I think would go well.

Like baba ganoush but usually make hummus instead.

But I don't think hummus with pasta would work at all.

[Claire]

One thing we can't get "good" here is pita bread. It is all about the consistency of cardboard. One of hubby's favorite meals is just pita, hummus, and baba ganouche.

Now why am I not making my own pita? I've done it before and it is easy. (Picture me kicking myself in the deriere!). Five years of bad pita will disappear soon!

Hmmm .... I'm very imaginative when it comes to food, but you're right about hummus and pasta! haha! Adds new meaning to the word paste. Pasta Fazoule it would NOT be!! Oh, dear, you've gotten me off on a tangent!

[urmaniac13]

Originally Posted by Haggis

Gday all.

Thinking about whipping up an eggplant sauce for a pasta dish tonight, no recipe, just making it up as I go along.

So far I'm thinking roast the eggplant whole with a head of garlic, pop the eggplant and gooey garlic cloves in a food processor, blitz it till smooth and add in some parsley, lemon juice and ev-oo.

What else do you think could be added? I would be tempted to throw in some toasted pine nuts but I used them all on my last batch of pesto. If I had some tahini I could definitely see myself adding some of that to add a n arabic influence. Maybe a dollop or two of yoghurt? Coriander in it might be nice, but couldn't be bothered getting any (waiting for the stuff in the garden to grow).

What do you guys think?

Hey I do something very similar, only that I roast the eggplants by themselves, then grill the garlic with sauteed onion in a skillet, then blend them together with a little touch of cayenne pepper and coriander seeds, adding evoo as needed to make a smooth texture. Parsleys are chopped and go on top of the pasta before serving. They are absolutely delicious and I do almost identical thing with bell peppers, too!!
Hey, your idea of adding tahini sounds good too... we have a jar in the fridge now I may try that next time, maybe for couscous or bulghur.