Eggplant Pasta with Creamy Basil Sauce
We interrupt this cold noodle summer to bring you (gasp) a HOT PASTA
Yes, it’s true, sometimes I do eat my summer carbs hot. (Speaking of hot summer carbs, I had never been to the old-school Italian comfort spot Noodle Pudding in Brooklyn Heights before last night and it was truly adorable. We had squash blossoms, Amatriciana, chicken milanese with iceberg and giardiniera, linguine with clams and tomatoes. I had an icy vodka martini with a twist that came with a mini cocktail shaker sidecar. Cash only. Highly recommend.)
I made a version of this pasta recently at my friend Karen’s house. It came together in 30 minutes, a notoriously green-things-averse 2-year-old approved, and we adults had seconds. The basil sauce is more or less pesto that’s been blended until verrrry smooth and clingy, with more affordable walnuts instead of pine nuts. There are lots of tender, creamy cubes of pan-roasted eggplant throughout. It’s forgiving to make and comforting to eat.
It doesn’t happen often, but I love cooking meals at someone else’s house because it forces me out of my comfort zone, no matter how slightly. Not having my utensils/knives/appliances/brands at the ready helps me to understand how other people cook and what they rely on, which can be really helpful when you spend most of your time cooking in your own little bubble. The version we made at Karen’s house was a little different—pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts, fresh pasta (such a treat), batons of blanched wax beans tossed in with the eggplant—but no less delicious. Which I guess is just my way of saying you can probably sub whatever nut/add whatever vegetable/use whatever pasta you want here (tortellini??) and it’ll probably still end up very very good.
