One Pot Pasta Dish with Sausage, Tomatoes and Baba Ghanoush

This recipe is a modification of the Pasta with Italian Sausage, Tomatoes and Eggplant from Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean by Christopher Kimball.

I recently purchased ripe tomatoes and eggplants from a farm market. I used the eggplant to make baba ghanoush and ate most of the tomatoes in tomato sandwiches. I had two cups of baba ghanoush left over after Bruce and I enjoyed the dip with homemade pita bread.

I wanted to do something with the tomatoes before they went bad. The creamy, garlicky, smoky baba ghanoush went wonderfully well as part of the pasta.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 4 cups of chopped up fresh ripe tomatoes
• 1 small sweet onion, finely chopped
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 4 oz of spicy Italian sausage (2 links with casing removed)
• 1 cup baba ghanoush
• 12 oz or 16 oz of Campanella pasta, whichever the full bag of pasta is
• 1/2 teaspoons of grated nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons of dried basil
• 4 cups water
• Finely grated pecorino Romano or Parmesan for serving

Tools:

Large pot with lid, wooden stirring spoon, measuring spoons and cups, cutting board, knife

Instructions

1. In the large pot, over medium-high heat, add the oil and when it shimmers, add the onion, tomatoes and 1 teaspoons of salt.
2. Cover the pot with the lid and cook, stirring only once or twice, for 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Add the spicy Italian sausage to the pot and cook uncovered. Using the wooden spoon, break up the sausages and smash up the tomatoes. Cook until the sausage is no longer pink, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the water, baba ghanoush, and dried basil to the pot and bring to a boil. With the wooden spoon, stir in the pasta, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper.
5. Put the lid back on the pot, turn the burner down to medium and let the pasta vigorously simmer. Stirring occasionally, cook until the pasta is al dente, 10 to 12 minutes.
6. Taste, if needed add salt and black pepper.
7. Serve with the cheese sprinkled over the pasta.

Notes:

If you have fresh basil, use a cup of lightly packed basil and add the basil after seasoning with salt and pepper to taste (Step 6).

Don’t have leftover baba ghanoush? Use 1 pound of peeled, cubed eggplant stirred in before adding the water in step 4.