During the Penny Pinching Pantry Raid, I was determined to use up the two bags of Wacky Mac (multi-colored rotini-like pasta) that were hanging out in my pantry. I’m not exactly sure what I thought I was going to do with them when I picked up two bags at the store. It was free, though, because I had a coupon and it was on sale. Who am I to pass up free pasta?
So, towards the end of the challenge, the Wacky Mac was still sitting in my pantry just waiting to be used. I had some yellow squash and eggplant from my CSA that needed to be used, so I decided to combine them all to make a brightly colored pasta dish. The colors from the pasta ended up working pretty well with the colors of the vegetables, making a fairly attractive-looking dish. It would be delicious with some whole wheat pasta, though, if you don’t happen to have multi-colored pasta just hanging out in your pantry.
Roasted Eggplant and Squash Pasta
- 8 ounces multi-colored pasta
- 1 Asian eggplant, thinly sliced
- 1 large yellow squash, thinly sliced
- 2 red hot cherry peppers, minced
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup golden cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems and chopped
- Handful fresh basil, chopped
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan and romano cheeses
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 450°. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with cooking spray. Set aside. Prepare the pasta according to the package directions. Drain, and transfer to a large bowl.
In a large bowl, combine the sliced eggplant, squash, cherry peppers, garlic, fresh chopped thyme, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and toss to evenly coat.
Transfer the vegetable mixture to the prepared baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes, turning once.
In a large bowl, toss the drained pasta with the roasted veggies, remaining tablespoon of olive oil, and parmesan and romano cheeses. Garnish with the chopped basil. Serve immediately.
Nice. Really simple to do. I love roasted veggies!!! Plus it involves pasta, too. ;-)
Simply delicious!!
I LOVE that you used the tri-color pasta – it just adds to the already vibrant colors of this dish!
That is so funny. I have Wacky Mac in the back of my pantry from the exact same reason you stated! I also have one zucchini left over…perfect!
Thank you!
Roasted veggies with pasta sound delicious!
Yummy! I love the meal you made and I love it even more that you got the pasta for free:)
Ha! The Wacky Mac (LOVE that name) looks so perfect paired with all of those gorgeous vegetables!
Fantastic summery meal. Healthy, light but still tasty. The eggplant brings a nice meaty texture to the soft pasta. Love it, love it, love it!
It is this kind of food that I eat a lot in the hot summer! Just lovely!
I have been on such an eggplant binge recently and this looks so nice .. so so nice!
Just made this recipe! ..sort of! I didn’t have the red hot cherry peppers so I used a little dried crushed red pepper instead, didn’t have the cherry tomatoes so I used canned diced tomatoes drained instead, didn’t have the parmesan/romano so I used shredded mozzarella. Plus I added some mushrooms and onions to the roasting so I added more noodles and olive oil and garlic. YUM
oh and I used dried oregano instead of thyme
Lovely recipe! I will add olives and remove thyme, add a bit of lemon juice, serve it cold as a salad.
And feta cheese :)
I have 2 very small eggplant, a yellow squash and a patty squash I need to use before we leave town for the weekend and this sounds like the perfect solution. Going to ad lib a bit more with roma tomatoes and sweet wax peppers since that’s what I have in the garden. Sounds like a great meal that even the baby can eat. Thanks for giving me inspiration for tonight’s dinner! I’ll let you know how it turns out.