Warm Eggplant & Mushroom Pasta Salad
Warm eggplant & mushroom pasta salad – perfect for fall and winter evenings, and equally as lovely cooled the next day for leftover lunch!
This warm eggplant & mushroom pasta salad makes for weeknight suppers that will surely please even the pickiest eaters in your family.
This post first appeared on October 10, 2012 and was featured on Wayfair.com. I hope you enjoy this favorite from my kitchen!
It’s been deliciously chilly at night…and warm and balmy during the day. I hate to sound like a romantic weather reporter, but when it comes down to it, the weather dictates how I eat. When the house cools down and I pull on sweaters as I work indoors, I sometimes find myself emerging to a sunshiny day outdoors. I need dishes that can work with the fluctuations in temperature at this time of year.
My Warm Eggplant & Mushroom Pasta Salad is just the thing. When you dress in layers, this dish will be like that versatile accessory in your autumn closet. Pile on the knits and wrap yourself in a scarf. Dig into a tender pasta, piercing the warm morsels of eggplant and earthy mushroom. Small bites of mozzarella will melt into the warm pasta, leaving that creamy saltiness over your tastebuds. It will be the perfect side dish to that roasted chicken you have crisping in the oven.
But the next day, when you are tempted to enjoy your lunch in the fine, fall sun, you will find that your leftovers will have transformed into a lunch, all on its own. It’s now a cool salad that is hearty enough to get you through the day.
I hope you are staying cozy, my friends, but finding time to enjoy the brisk weather and the sun when it shines. I hope you enjoy this dish. The recipe for Warm Eggplant & Mushroom Pasta Salad is featured today at My Way Home, by Wayfair.
Other ways to enjoy eggplant:
Skillet Eggplant Lasagna
Quinoa Crusted Eggplant Parmigiana
Grilled Eggplant with Corn Chimichurri
Roasted Eggplant, Tomato and Pesto Mini Naan
Warm Eggplant & Mushroom Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the vegetables:
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 eggplant diced into 1 inch cubes
- 2 cups crimini mushrooms sliced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
For the pasta salad:
- 1/2 red onion minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 ounce bow tie pasta
- parmesan cheese grated
- basil freshly chopped
Instructions
- In a deep sided saute pan, heat the olive oil. Add the eggplant and mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook until the eggplant is soft and the mushrooms fully wilted (about 10 minutes).
- Make the dressing by whisking together the onion, garlic, salt, vinegar, mustard, and olive oil. Set aside.
- Cook the pasta in boiling salted water, according to directions.
- Drain, then toss in the sauteed vegetables and dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Garnish with grated Parmeasean cheese and basil. Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Comments
COOKBOOK
I love this salad combo, 2 of my favorite ingredients: eggplant and mushroom. Yum!
I probably will sprinkle some feta, and chopped walnuts, and sunflower seeds too. Heheheh…
You are lucky to be living where you’re living! Here in Toronto, we got our first -1 today! Can you imagine? It’s not even winter yet and we’re getting arctic weather already! Sob, sob…A nice bowl of this pasta just might cheer me up :)
The way you describe this pasta has so much love in it. And it sounds excellent. I think I’m going to give this a try for dinner next week.
Yes I love great food with less work. Fixing a decent dinner on a weeknight is so challenging these days. I cook pasta on most work nights. I am saving this recipe so I can try it soon. Neat pictures. Loving it.
The dinner with leftovers that turn magically to the next day’s lunch (or breakfast, frequently enough, in my case) is such a great trick. More food with less work–yes, please! This combination with eggplant and mushrooms sounds wonderful.
I feel warmer already! Crimini Mushrooms and eggplant go so beautifully together…thanks for sharing this seasonal dish!
-Shannon
Beautiful photography! I love eggplant and love the combination of ingredients in this recipe.
Love all these hearty eggplant dishes for the fall!
What a perfect salad for the cooler nights ahead! I love warm and comforting meals in the fall… somehow I see this salad quickly becoming a new favorite!