Creamy Baked Noodles with Eggplant and Cheese
Instructions:
- This dish is a streamlined version of the classic Greek
casserole known as pastitsio, which combines the concepts
of lasagne and macaroni and cheese by baking a
layer of vegetables between two layers of creamy noodles.
Simply double the recipe to make a batch that will fit
into a 9x13-inch baking pan or deep gratin dish.
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
- 1 pound eggplant, peeled if you like and cut into 1-inch cubes
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- Cayenne or hot red pepper flakes, to taste
- 2 cups chopped tomato (canned is fine; use a little of the juice)
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
- 8 ounces ziti, penne, elbows, or other cut pasta
- 2 tablespoons bread crumbs, preferably fresh
- 11/2 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or kefalotyri cheese if you can find it
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Heat the oven to 350 F. Put the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the eggplant, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally and adding a little more oil if necessary, until the eggplant is softened and browned all over, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.
- Add more oil to the pan if needed to coat the bottom and return it to the heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cinnamon, cloves, and cayenne, then the tomato. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Return the eggplant to the pan, taste and adjust the seasoning, then set aside.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until barely tender, not quite done enough to eat. Drain well; put the pasta in a large bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter and 1 tablespoon of the bread crumbs. Set aside. Use 1 tablespoon of the melted butter to grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan or small ovenproof dish.
- In a small saucepan or microwave, heat the milk until small bubbles appear. Reheat the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat in its saucepan.
- Add the flour to the melted butter and stir almost constantly with a wire whisk until the mixture turns golden, about 5 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly; cook, whisking, until the mixture thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the nutmeg and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Stir a couple tablespoons of the hot milk mixture into the beaten eggs, then a little more. Pour this mixture back into the remaining milk mixture and stir in about half of the Parmesan (reserve some for sprinkling later).
- Put half the pasta in the baking dish; cover with half the tomato-eggplant sauce. Cover with the remaining pasta, then the remaining tomato sauce and all the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and the remaining bread crumbs (another little grating of nutmeg here won’t hurt either). Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the top turns golden brown. Let rest for a few minutes before cutting and serving. (You can assemble the dish up to several hours before baking; let the components cool a bit, cover well, and refrigerate. Transfer it directly to the oven from the fridge, adding about 10 minutes to the baking time.)
- Creamy Baked Noodles with Mushrooms and Cheese.
- For a meatier texture, replace the eggplant with any fresh mushrooms.