5 Italian Easter Dinner Recipes Worthy of a Feast

At an Italian table, Easter is on par with Christmas in terms of traditional dishes, rituals, family recipes, and a large gathering of relatives to share it all with.

Newly-sprung spring has much to do with typical Easter fare, so you’ll often find di…

At an Italian table, Easter is on par with Christmas in terms of traditional dishes, rituals, family recipes, and a large gathering of relatives to share it all with.

Newly-sprung spring has much to do with typical Easter fare, so you'll often find dishes prepared with fresh ricotta made from the sweet and creamy milk of sheep that have been nibbling on new green pastures, along with plenty of eggs.

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A Dish as Comforting to Cook as It Is to Eat

Table for One is a column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and only himself—and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.

“Carbonara must be eaten hot,” Italian cookery writer, Anna Del Conte, writes in her…

Table for One is a column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and only himself—and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.


“Carbonara must be eaten hot,” Italian cookery writer, Anna Del Conte, writes in her memoir, Risotto With Nettles.

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Italian Meatballs

These classic Italian-American style meatballs are huge and pillowy soft! They’re mixed with ground beef and pork, loaded with herbs and cheese, and served with a traditional tomato sauce. Make them baseball-sized for a dinner entree, or roll…

These classic Italian-American style meatballs are huge and pillowy soft! They're mixed with ground beef and pork, loaded with herbs and cheese, and served with a traditional tomato sauce. Make them baseball-sized for a dinner entree, or roll them smaller for an appetizer.

Continue reading "Italian Meatballs" »

perfect vegetable lasagna

Here is a theory: There are two types of picky people, those that are totally fine just never experiencing a life with, I don’t know, tomatoes or bananas or pickles or raisins (yes, I’ve read your comments — all of them) and then ther…

Here is a theory: There are two types of picky people, those that are totally fine just never experiencing a life with, I don’t know, tomatoes or bananas or pickles or raisins (yes, I’ve read your comments — all of them) and then there is the kind that finds their epicurean limitations to constrict like an uncomfortable jacket they’d love to shed if they could figure out how. I, a lifelong Picky Person, am the latter. Over the years creating and sharing recipes for this site, I’ve embraced so many things I once thought I didn’t like [insert basically half the ingredients in anything here, ever], but it turned out I just didn’t like the way they were usually made.

And now the time has come for me to get over my lasagna issues. What are you saying? you might ask. There are two lasagna recipes in the archives. You love them both! And it’s true. What I have struggled with is what I’d call The Usual Vegetable Lasagna. I want something as bubbling, bronzed, and brick-like as a classic lasagna should be, but I needed to fix a few things along the way.

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Best Stuffed Shells

These stuffed shells are cheesy, saucy, and stuffed with the most delicious ricotta and spinach filling. I’m in love, and I think you will be, too. Speaking…

The post Best Stuffed Shells appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

best stuffed shells recipe

These stuffed shells are cheesy, saucy, and stuffed with the most delicious ricotta and spinach filling. I’m in love, and I think you will be, too. Speaking of love, they’re so pretty that you could serve these shells for a romantic Valentine’s Dinner at home.

A few more reasons to love this recipe:

  • It yields a lot of shells, so it’s perfect for serving a crowd.
  • Leftovers are great for lunch, or you can freeze them for later.
  • This recipe is relatively easy to make, with minimal chopping.

fresh and blanched spinach

This stuffed shells recipe features simple and classic Italian ingredients. You’ll need jumbo shells, marinara sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, a little Parmesan, garlic and seasonings.

To make this cheesy dish more redeeming, I added an entire pound of fresh greens! You can use fresh or frozen spinach or kale. The greens yield a gorgeous, vibrant green filling with a lovely, mild flavor. These stuffed shells are honestly the best I’ve ever had, by a long shot. Keep reading for some fun variations and tips.

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How to Roast Garlic

Roasted garlic is a revelation. Have you tried it? When you roast garlic long enough, it transforms from pungent and crisp to mellow and soft. It’s irresistibly…

The post How to Roast Garlic appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

best roasted garlic recipe

Roasted garlic is a revelation. Have you tried it? When you roast garlic long enough, it transforms from pungent and crisp to mellow and soft. It’s irresistibly caramelized and spreads over bread like butter.

Roasted garlic seems indulgent, but it’s really just garlic with a little bit of olive oil. Like I said, it’s a revelation.

how to prepare garlic for roasting

I’ve loved roasted garlic since my friend introduced me to it in college. We developed a funny routine of roasting tons of garlic, which we enjoyed with crusty bread, too much red wine, and episode after episode of Arrested Development.

Back then, we wrapped our garlic in foil, which is what most roasted garlic recipes will tell you to do. These days, I try to minimize our aluminum exposure and cooking waste whenever possible. So, I came up with a foil-free method using basic cooking tools! Let’s roast some garlic.

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Best Vegan Lasagna

I used to be skeptical of vegan lasagna—could it really be that good? This recipe is proof that yes, it really can. This vegan lasagna tastes as…

The post Best Vegan Lasagna appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

vegan lasagna recipe

I used to be skeptical of vegan lasagna—could it really be that good? This recipe is proof that yes, it really can. This vegan lasagna tastes as good as it looks.

My husband, who has a major weakness for creamy pastas, also found the concept of a cheese-less lasagna questionable. I figured this recipe would convince him, so I brought some home and put it in the fridge. I soon found the man in the kitchen, going back for seconds. Then thirds.

vegan lasagna ingredients

If you’ve been paying very close attention to my recipe substitution notes over the years, you may have tried this technique already. It’s based on the vegan variation of the cheesy roasted eggplant lasagna in my cookbook, Love Real Food (page 163). I shared the concept in my classic vegetarian lasagna recipe, too.

Today, I wanted to show you the results with photographic proof. If you’re in the mood for a dairy-free alternative to traditional cheesy lasagna, this recipe is for you.

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Roasted Eggplant Pasta

This eggplant pasta is flavor-packed with roasted eggplant & zesty marinara sauce! An impressive plant based dinner, it works for weeknights or parties. Meet your new favorite dinner recipe. Yes, this eggplant pasta has got it all! It’s packed with savory and zesty flavor: tender roasted eggplant, zesty marinara sauce, and peppery basil. It’s 100% plant-based, but lacking nothing in the flavor department. Even better, this Mediterranean-style dinner is incredibly versatile: it works for weeknights and for serving to company! (Like your favorite jeans that work for going out or staying in, right?) There’s something about it that’s cozy but elegant at the same time. Curl up with your honey and make it on an evening in…or serve it on a big platter as a family dinner! First, you’ll make roasted eggplant. The first time we made this roasted eggplant, I took one bite and shouted “Wow!” (We love recipes like that.) I expected it to be good, but not that good. Roasting eggplant breaks it down into silky, savory tender goodness. Even with no flavoring, it tasted incredible. We dressed it up with a little grated garlic and chopped basil to take it over the top. You can serve […]

A Couple Cooks – Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

This eggplant pasta is flavor-packed with roasted eggplant & zesty marinara sauce! An impressive plant based dinner, it works for weeknights or parties.

Eggplant pasta

Meet your new favorite dinner recipe. Yes, this eggplant pasta has got it all! It’s packed with savory and zesty flavor: tender roasted eggplant, zesty marinara sauce, and peppery basil. It’s 100% plant-based, but lacking nothing in the flavor department. Even better, this Mediterranean-style dinner is incredibly versatile: it works for weeknights and for serving to company! (Like your favorite jeans that work for going out or staying in, right?) There’s something about it that’s cozy but elegant at the same time. Curl up with your honey and make it on an evening in…or serve it on a big platter as a family dinner!

Roasted eggplant

First, you’ll make roasted eggplant.

The first time we made this roasted eggplant, I took one bite and shouted “Wow!” (We love recipes like that.) I expected it to be good, but not that good. Roasting eggplant breaks it down into silky, savory tender goodness. Even with no flavoring, it tasted incredible. We dressed it up with a little grated garlic and chopped basil to take it over the top. You can serve this as a side dish, but it was so good we had to make it into this eggplant pasta. Here’s how to make Roasted Eggplant:

  • Chop: Cut 2 eggplants into 1-inch diced pieces.
  • Mix with olive oil and salt: Mix with 1/4 cup olive oil and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Eggplant soaks up the oil in an instant, so mix it right as soon as the oil hits its flesh.
  • Roast at 425 degrees: Roast for about 30 to 35 minutes until the eggplant is browned and tender. Because eggplant has so much water, it will deflate quite a bit. The roasted pieces come out much smaller!
Eggplant pasta

No salting and draining for this eggplant pasta! Phew.

Many eggplant recipes call for letting the eggplant drain with salt on it for 1 hour to extract some of the bitterness from the eggplant. If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered: is this extra step really necessary?

You’re in luck: it’s not! According to Epicurious, salting eggplant used to be conventional practice with eggplants years ago because they were more bitter. Today’s eggplants are bred to be less bitter, so there’s no need to waste an hour salting the eggplant. Now we know!

Easy marinara sauce

While it’s roasting, make the marinara.

This eggplant pasta is all about components. Roast the eggplant, make the marinara, boil pasta, and then stir them all together. Voila: dinner! The nice part about the component approach is it teaches you how to make 3 different things: roasted eggplant, marinara sauce, and eggplant pasta. You can serve the roasted eggplant as a side dish, or use the marinara as a pasta sauce in many other dishes.

This recipe stars our Easy Marinara recipe, which we designed to be quick and ultra flavorful. Here are the key elements to the sauce:

  • Fire roasted tomatoes: The flavor of fire-roasted tomatoes is sweet and mild, and they require less cooking than other canned varieties. (If you can’t find them, use the best quality canned tomatoes you can find.)
  • Garlic powder: As a shortcut to fresh garlic, this sauce uses garlic powder so you don’t have to dirty a knife. It melds in perfectly and adds great flavor.
  • Fresh basil: Fresh basil makes everything taste better! If you’re not growing it in your garden, look for it near the other fresh herbs in the grocery.
  • Balsamic vinegar: A hint of balsamic vinegar rounds out the flavor: it makes a subtle but important difference!
Mafaldine pasta

Cook this eggplant pasta to al dente. Please!

You absolutely must cook the pasta for this eggplant pasta to al dente. A lot of home cooks mess this up, resulting in limp pasta. What’s al dente? In Italian it means “to the bite.” It refers to pasta that is still firm on the inside when cooked. The ideal al dente texture is a tender exterior balanced by a firm bite with a fleck of white at its core. Here are our tips on how to cook pasta to al dente:

  • Boil the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water.
  • While cooking, check pasta continually for doneness.
  • As soon as the pasta has a tender exterior but a fleck of white at its core, drain it! Even a few seconds can be the difference between al dente and limp noodles.

What type of pasta to use?

Honestly, you can use any type of noodle for this eggplant pasta! It works with any type of long or short noodles. The noodles we used are a fancy noodle called mafaldine that we found at our local grocery. Mafaldine pasta is a ribbon-shaped pasta with wavy edges on both sides, almost like a long and thin lasagna noodle. But really any noodle works! Here are some options:

  • Long pasta shapes: Spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine, bucatini, pappardelle, mafaldine
  • Short pasta shapes: Penne, rigatoni, shells, campanelle, fussili, spirali, radiatore, orechiette, farfalle, rotini, gemelli
Capers

The final flavor secret: capers!

The last thing you need to know about this eggplant pasta: capers add the final flair! What are capers? Capers are a berry of the caper bush that’s native to the Mediterranean. They’re round and dark green gray, about the size of a peppercorn.  You’ll find them in Italian and Mediterranean recipes, most well known in chicken piccata. They’re served pickled, and you’ll find them in jars near the olives.

What’s so great about capers? They taste tangy, briny and salty, and add big flavor to any dish. Since this is a vegan pasta dish, instead of adding Parmesan cheese for salty savory flavor, we’ve added capers. If you’ve never cooked with them, prepare to fall in love.

Eggplant pasta

This eggplant pasta recipe is…

Vegetarian, plant-based, vegan, and dairy-free. For gluten-free, use gluten-free pasta.

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Eggplant pasta

Roasted Eggplant Pasta


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (8 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 6

Description

This eggplant pasta is flavor-packed with roasted eggplant & zesty marinara sauce! An impressive plant based dinner, it works for weeknights or parties.


Ingredients

For the roasted eggplant

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 medium to large eggplants (about 2 pounds)
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon grated garlic
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or Italian parsley
  • Freshly ground pepper

For the pasta

  • 1 recipe Easy Marinara Sauce
  • 3 tablespoons capers, drained
  • 1 pound long pasta noodles: spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine (gluten-free as desired)*
  • Fresh basil, to garnish (leftover from the marinara recipe)
  • Optional: Add grated smoked mozzarella or Parmesan

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Roast the eggplant: Cut the eggplant into 1-inch chunks. Quickly mix with olive oil and kosher salt and fresh ground pepper (the eggplant soaks up the oil in an instant, so mix as soon as you add it). Place it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast for 30 to 35 minutes, until browned and very tender, gently stirring the sheet at about the 25 minute mark.
  3. Make the marinara sauce: Meanwhile, make the Easy Marinara Sauce. Let it simmer covered until the eggplant is done.
  4. Make the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the pasta until it is al dente (start tasting a few minutes before the package recommends: you want it to be tender but still a little firm on the inside). Then drain the pasta and return it to the pot.
  5. Season the eggplant: When the eggplant is done, remove it from the oven and gently toss with the garlic and herbs, making sure to spread out any chunks of garlic that stick together. The eggplant will be very tender so handle it gently.
  6. Serve: Add the drained capers to the marinara sauce. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix to combine. To serve, add noodles to a plate, then top with roasted eggplant and finely chopped basil. (If you’d like, you can add cheese: but it’s not necessary for flavor!)

Notes

*Here we used a fancy long pasta called mafaldine we found at our local grocery. You also can use any short pasta shape: it’s just as good!

  • Category: Pasta
  • Method: Roasted
  • Cuisine: Italian

Keywords: Eggplant pasta

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

Garlic Bread

Here’s how to make the BEST garlic bread! Two classic garlic bread methods: toasted and crisped under the broiler, the other soft from being wrapped in aluminum foil and heated in the oven. Continue reading “Garlic Bread” »

Here's how to make the BEST garlic bread! Two classic garlic bread methods: toasted and crisped under the broiler, the other soft from being wrapped in aluminum foil and heated in the oven.

Continue reading "Garlic Bread" »

Roasted Cauliflower (Four Ways!)

Have you tried roasted cauliflower? I don’t get very excited about raw cauliflower. Roasted cauliflower, though—I can eat it straight off the pan like French fries. Raw…

The post Roasted Cauliflower (Four Ways!) appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

best roasted cauliflower recipe

Have you tried roasted cauliflower? I don’t get very excited about raw cauliflower. Roasted cauliflower, though—I can eat it straight off the pan like French fries.

Raw cauliflower transforms into golden, caramelized deliciousness in the oven. If you roast it with just olive oil, salt and pepper, it’s a tasty snack. This roasted cauliflower recipe is the perfect simple side dish for your fall and winter meals.

raw cauliflower (whole and quartered)

You can also use basic roasted cauliflower to add bulk and tasty roasted flavor to other veggie dishes, like my lentil tacos and farro salad. It’s neutral enough that it doesn’t overwhelm other flavors, so it goes well with a variety of cuisines.

As much as I love basic roasted cauliflower, it’s the perfect vehicle for creative flavorings. I came up with three fun flavor combinations this week inspired by Italian, Mexican and Indian cuisines. I can’t decide which one I love best! In the recipe below, you’ll find options for plain roasted cauliflower plus my simple variations.

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