The last few weeks have seen an eggplant inundation from the CSA, leading me to make eggplant mac and cheese. Because when it doubt, make mac and cheese. In this first week of October, I decided I needed some comfort food for lunch. It just feels right. And eggplant mac and cheese is the perfect anecdote to the early fall blues.
Not that I can complain too much. Our CSA is still going strong - this week we got lettuce, chard, carrots, eggplant, tomatoes, sweet peppers, parsley and hot peppers. I also picked up some zucchini and more tomatoes at the Valley Flora farm stand and we got mushrooms and figs from the farmer’s market. The lettuce went into a salad. The peppers are going into chicken fajitas later this week. The mushrooms went into a swoon-worthy fritatta. The carrots are going to get grated and tossed into the freezer for some recipes later this month. The parsley went into my stock bag in the freezer.
I’m ready for that transition point, though - ready for winter squash, shallots, onions, and potatoes. And really ready for mushrooms. Still, I’ll gladly use up the last of the eggplant.
This eggplant mac and cheese is a super creamy dish. I used a combination of mozzarella cheese and goat cheese. These are a great counterpoint to the nutty sweet roasted eggplant. Just about any pasta would be good with this, but I used cavatappi because it just happens to be my absolute favorite. I’d imagine this would be good with a variety of add ins - bacon might be good, but if you happen to have some home roasted cherry tomatoes, you might try those out, too.
This recipe freezes well. I’ve got only a few days this week when I’ll actually be at my desk for lunch, so this recipe will tide me over through next week.
Ingredients
- 2 small eggplants or 1 large one
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 package cavattapi or similar pasta
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 2 ounces goat cheese
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Chop the eggplant into one inch pieces. Lay the eggplant pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes or until the eggplant is soft.
- Prepare the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the flour and whisk constantly for one minute. Add the milk and stir constantly over medium heat until the milk begins to thicken. Take the sauce off the heat. Add the cheese and stir until it's melted.
- Add the eggplant and pasta to the sauce. Mix thoroughly to combine. Add salt to taste.
- Serves 4. Enjoy!
