Eggplant Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe

My friend, Trish, created a similar recipe to this. We received eggplant in our Bountiful Baskets, but neither of us enjoy eggplant parmigiana. It was Trish's idea to roast the eggplant and puree it for a sauce. I thought it was such a good idea, I decided to try it out.. I think that cooked eggplant is the perfect starting point for a pasta sauce!

Begin by cutting off the ends of the eggplant (like I did, above), and then peel it. At this point, you can cut it up into 1-2" pieces.

Put it in a large skillet with about an inch or so of salted water. Boil until fork tender. The next step is to puree or mash it. I used an immersion blender in the pan. I drained part of the water off first. This is what it looks like once it is blended (below).

I cut some beet greens from the garden yesterday. Don't they look pretty?!

Beet greens take a little more time to cook than spinach. So, if you want to boil them first (2 minutes) to soften them, do that first. I just chopped mine up and put them into the mix. You can blend them with the tomato sauce if you think your kids will fuss. They'll never know they are in the sauce!

Above is a picture of everything tossed in. In addition to the beet greens, I added baby portobello mushrooms, fresh basil, diced tomato, canned tomato sauce, oregano, crushed garlic (I used 2 cubes of Dorot) and a pinch of salt.

I served it over some rigatoni with a little Parmesan.  This has a wonderful taste and is a nice thick sauce. A perfect vegetarian meal in my book! Leave off the Parmesan for a delicious vegan dish. You'll never miss the meat!

Here is the recipe:

Eggplant Tomato Pasta Sauce with Beet Greens

1 large eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 small can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 large tomato, diced
10 baby portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 c. chopped beet greens or other greens
1 c. fresh basil, chopped
2 tsp. dried oregano
grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Peel and cube the eggplant. In a large frying pan, cook the eggplant in salted boiling water until fork tender. Drain off half of the cooking water (or leave if you want a thinner sauce, or if you intend to let the sauce simmer for awhile). Using an immersion blender, food processor or potato masher, make the eggplant into a sauce. Add tomato sauce, garlic and dried oregano. Add other ingredients and allow to simmer until desired consistency. Serve over cooked pasta.  Add grated Parmesan to taste.