Stuffed Aubergines with Fusilli Pasta and Cheese Recipe

Posted on by

I bought for the first time – of course also from the farmers market – white eggplants (aubergines).

I was intrigued by their taste which proved to be a tab more sweet than their purple cousins, and also by their looks. So I decided to stuff them in a vegetarian recipe, inspired a bit by Eggplant Parmesan, throwing in some fusilli pasta for looks – although the green fusillis turned out to be quite hot and spicy – and some Gorgonzola for its spicy kick. And I replaced the Parmesan cheese with Pecorino Romano.

Ingredients (2 persons):

  • 2 medium (white) eggplants
  • a handful of hazelnuts
  • 2-3 tablespoons of butter
  • 2-3 tablespoons tomato cubes (canned)
  • a few basil leaves
  • 100 g fusilli tricolori pasta (3 coloured)
  • 75 g Gorgonzola cheese (or other soft blue cheese)

Preparation method:

  1. Wash the aubergines and cut them in half.
  2. With the help of a tablespoon scoop out their fleshy inside and chop them roughly.
  3. Clean the hazelnuts of their shelves and crush them.
  4. Melt half of the butter in a saucepan and fry for about a minute the hazelnuts.
  5. Add the other half of butter, the chopped aubergine kernels and the tomato cubes. Salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Stir-fry for about 5 minutes until golden and add chopped basil.
  7. Meanwhile cook the fusilli pasta underdone, because they will cook a bit more in the oven.
  8. Arrange some spinach leaves in the hollowed aubergine halves.
  9. Scoop over some of the pan-fried mixture then lay a handful of fusilli pasta.
  10. Smear over each aubergine some Gorgonzola cheese then grate some Pecorino Romano or other pungent hard cheese like Parmigiano, etc.
  11. Put the stuffed aubergines in an ovenproof dish and place it in a preheated oven (200 C) for about 15 minutes until the cheeses just melted and bubbly.
  12. Serve them hot from the oven garnished with some spinach leaves, the remaining fusilli pasta and a spoonful of tomato cubes.