Pasta with eggplant pesto, almonds and confit cherry tomatoes, served with burrata. This is one of those first courses with eggplant that simply cannot be missing from our collection of summer eggplant recipes and one of those dishes that always makes a great impression at the table. We have already discussed eggplant and cherry tomato pesto, as well as eggplant and basil pesto, both recipes that are part of our collection dedicated to homemade pestos. But this time I didn’t want to make a simple pasta; I wanted something even more delicious: so to make it special I added burrata. The result is this creamy pasta with eggplant pesto that drove my whole family crazy! Ready to make it yourself? Let’s go, but first remember that if you want to stay updated on all my recipes you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 5
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Autumn
Ingredients to make pasta with eggplant pesto and cherry tomatoes
- 1 eggplant (large)
- 8.8 oz cherry tomatoes (about 1 2/3 cups)
- 2.1 oz almonds (about 1/3 cup)
- 2.1 oz Parmesan (or a mix of Parmesan and Pecorino; about 2/3 cup grated)
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (about 2.1 oz)
- to taste salt
- to taste dried oregano
- 1 pinch sugar
- 1 pinch garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic)
- 14 oz pasta
- 8.8 oz burrata (or stracciatella)
Tools
- Pot
- Oven
- Stovetop
Preparation of pasta with eggplant pesto and burrata
You already know how to prepare the pesto, but we repeat everything here.
Rinse the eggplant and cut it in half without removing the skin or the stem.
Make crosswise shallow cuts into the flesh. Drizzle a little oil, season with salt, and place on a baking dish. To make the confit cherry tomatoes, rinse them and cut them in half, place them in the same baking dish where you put the eggplants, and season with a little salt and a pinch of sugar, a sprinkle of oregano, a little garlic powder or minced garlic, and 3–4 sprays of oil.
Cook in an air fryer at 356°F for about 20–25 minutes, checking occasionally (if you use the air fryer, cook directly on the rack in the basket).
Alternatively, bake in a fan oven for 34–40 minutes, or cook 20 minutes in the microwave at 750 W and set the grill function for the next 10 minutes.
Once both the eggplants and the cherry tomatoes are cooked, you can proceed to prepare the pesto.
Remove the skin from the eggplants and collect the flesh in the blender jug, together with the cherry tomatoes, but remember to reserve a few tomatoes for plating. Add the toasted almonds, basil, olive oil, the cheese, and blend everything until you obtain a creamy mixture.
Transfer the pesto to a shallow bowl or baking dish, thin it with some of the pasta cooking water and mix. Toss the pasta with the pesto, plate it and add the burrata (or scatter the stracciatella directly over the pasta), along with the reserved cherry tomatoes. Garnish with fresh basil.
Storage notes and tips
With the amount of pesto indicated you could dress about 1 kg of pasta, so if you have leftovers, you could store it in the fridge for two days, well sealed in an airtight container.
Alternatively, you can portion it and freeze it to use as needed; consume within a few months.
Leftover pasta (better if there are no leftovers) should be refrigerated and to reheat simply sauté it in a nonstick pan.
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