Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta

A naturally vegan and gluten-free homemade pesto stirred through tender roasted aubergine, sticky tomatoes and pasta. This meal is quick and simple, easy to batch cook to enjoy warm or cold throughout the week.

I love playing around with pasta and using my fresh pasta, I wanted to develop a new, healthy and vegan twist on the classic pesto pasta. Usually, pesto pasta will not contain extra vegetables, but it goes so wonderfully well together. I chose to use tender hearty cubes of aubergine as well as sticky sweet roasted tomatoes. Pop these in the oven while you prepare the homemade pesto.

Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta

The key with a good pesto is usually lots of olive oil, but I’ve kept mine quite light, adding a splash of water, some lemon juice and lots of fresh basil. Another trick to a really good tasting pesto is to first toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan. Be sure to watch them as they can catch very quickly and burn. The fragrant smell is delicious and then add them to a blender along with the rest of the pesto ingredients – there’s only 6 in total.

The third element to this Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta is the vegan parmesan sprinkle, which is addictive. This recipe will make extra so you can sprinkle over salads, grain bowls and savoury toasts. Simply pulse together toasted pine nuts, nutritional yeast (for the cheesy flavour), garlic powder, ground turmeric, salt and black pepper.

Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta

Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta

That’s it… it may seem like a long list of ingredients and three separate components, but they are all very easy and come together wonderfully. I loved this recipe so much it almost made my eBook Nourish Me but I already had a pesto recipe and needed to get it down to 12… so I am excited to share it here.

I hope you will enjoy this Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta for dinner or lunch throughout the week. Serve to friends and family for a delicious, healthy and vegan twist on the classic pasta dish. It is naturally gluten-free (depending on your pasta), hearty, wholesome and vibrant.

If you are interested in more healthy dinner ideas, how about my Burst Tomato and Sweet Potato Curry, Baked Pumpkin Falafel with Herby Hummus or Garlic Lemon Sweet Potato Noodles with Pine Nut Parmesan.

Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta

• Servings: 2
• Time: 40 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A naturally vegan and gluten-free homemade pesto stirred through tender roasted aubergine, sticky tomatoes and pasta. This meal is quick and simple, easy to batch cook to enjoy warm or cold throughout the week.

Ingredients

• Pesto:
• 50g pine nuts
• 15g basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp water
• Parmesan sprinkle:
• 40g pine nuts
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• Pasta:
• ½ medium aubergine, cubed
• 200g cherry tomatoes
• Olive oil
• 150g pasta shapes
• 1 red onion, very small dice
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 handfuls kale, de-stemmed and torn

Directions

1. Make the pesto by toasting the pine nuts in a dry pan for a couple of minutes until smelling toasty and golden brown. Add to a food processor with. The basil leaves, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic clove, salt and black pepper. Blitz to a paste, scraping down the sides as necessary. Gradually pour in the olive oil with the blade still running followed by the water and continue to process to a creamy consistency.
2. Prepare the parmesan sprinkle by toasting the pine nuts as above and adding them to a food processor with the nutritional yeast, garlic powder, ground turmeric and salt and black pepper. Pulse to form a fine crumble.
3. Preheat the oven to 160Fan/180*C and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Add the aubergine cubes to one and the tomatoes to the second. Drizzle both with some olive oil, salt and black pepper. Roast the aubergine for 30-35 minutes until tender, flipping over halfway through. Roast the tomatoes for 20 minutes until burst and juicy.
4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to packet instructions, drain and reserve some of the cooking water.
5. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a frying pan and add the red onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes before adding the torn kale and fry for another 5 minutes. Add in the cooked pasta, the roasted vegetables and half of the pesto with a splash of the cooking water.
6. Serve the pasta in bowls topped with extra basil, if desired, the parmesan sprinkle and extra pesto.

Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta

I look forward to hearing what you think of this Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Pesto Pasta so please let me know in the comments below. Tag me in your creations, too –I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With pesto pasta love x