Roasted Aubergine, Olive & Tomato Pasta
This simple vegetarian pasta recipe makes the most of Mediterranean flavours and brings a hint of summer to any table.
Packed to the brim with the best of Yorkshire produce with our Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil with Rosemary & Sea Salt, Mrs. Bell's Salad Cheese from Shepherds Purse Cheeses, and Conchiglie Rigate pasta from The Yorkshire Pasta Company. This pasta shape ‘cuddles’ sauces more than any other pasta shape and perfect with the chunky aubergine pieces and tomatoes in this recipe.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
300g of Conchiglie Rigate Pasta – No.3 from The Yorkshire Pasta Company
2 medium aubergines, cut into small chunks
400g on the vine baby tomatoes
80g pitted Greek Kalamata olives
3 large garlic cloves
Good drizzle of Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil with Rosemary & Sea Salt, plus extra for serving
Freshly ground black pepper
100g Mrs. Bell's Salad Cheese from Shepherds Purse Cheeses, crumbled. This is a creamy salad-style cheese made from sheep’s milk
Good handful of basil leaves, plus extra for serving
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan / Gas Mark 6. Pop your aubergine chunks, baby tomatoes (leave some on the vine for serving), along with the garlic cloves in skin and olives into a roasting tin. Drizzle over a good glug of Rosemary & Sea Salt Oil and then season with a little freshly ground black pepper. Roast in the oven for around 20-25 minutes until the aubergine is nicely browned.
Whilst the veg is roasting, cook your pasta according to the packet instructions and make sure it’s a firm ‘al dente’ texture, and then drain, reserving the pasta water. Set the pasta to one side.
When the vegetables are cooked take two-thirds from the roasting tin (reserving the tomatoes on the vine to serve the dish) and place in a food processor, squeezing the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins. Add a good handful of fresh basil leaves, and a little pasta water and blitz to make a thick sauce. We used around 50mls of the pasta water to thin our sauce and blitzed for around 30 seconds.
Assemble the dish by combining the sauce with the pasta, adding two-thirds of the crumbled salad cheese, and the remaining roasted vegetables. Serve topped with the remaining crumbled salad cheese, roasted tomatoes on the vine and more fresh basil leaves, and drizzle with a little Rosemary & Sea Salt Oil.
Our Top Tip! See our mini blog on how to roast your garlic to perfection.
