Cheesy Eggplant-Beef Bolognese Pasta Bake

Cheesy eggplant-beef bolognese pasta bake. A no-nonsens cheesy pasta dish. It’s punchy, with lots of meat and delicious eggplant, probably your favorite pasta that you literally want to eat right now.

The base for this dish is the simplest version of a classic bolognese that delivers a rich meat sauce. This meat sauce is tender, soft with a nice texture because of the eggplant. It adds much flavor to the sauce without dominating it too much and helps the beef to achieve that velvety consistency. Also the addition of chicken stock rounds out the meat flavor and gives the beef something to cook down in without drying out.

Finish the dish off with lots of mozzarella and throw it under the broiler to melt the cheese. Two words. Really tasty.
This is one of those meals that everyone can love and everyone can make. If you’re looking for a new cheesy pasta dinner, than his is it. Shareable deliciousness.

And if you don’t like too much cheese, then serve the pasta tossed with the sauce and some freshly grated parmezan without the extra mozzarella. Super savory, easy and delicious.

Try These Next

• Creamy Beef Bolognese with Roasted Peppers
• Beef and Bell Pepper Spaghetti
• Baked Meatballs with Orzo in Roasted Pepper Sauce

Yield: serves 4

Cheesy Eggplant-Beef Bolognese Pasta Bake

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Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

beef-eggplant bolognese

• 500 g/1.1 pounds ground beef
• 1 eggplant, cut into small cubes
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 500 ml/2 cups puréed tomatoes
• 1+3/4 cups/400 ml chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp each: ground cumin, coriander, smoked paprika
• sea salt + black pepper to taste

also

• 250 g/9 oz pasta
• 150 g/5.5 oz shredded mozzarella
• 1 ball of mozzarella, torn into pieces
• pine nuts

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a wide heavy-based saucepan and cook the onion, garlic and celery stirring occasionally, over a medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
2. Add the eggplant cubes and carrot, stir well. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, still on medium-low heat.
3. Stir in the cumin, coriander and smoked paprika. Turn the heat up to high, add ground beef and use a fork to break it up a little. Turn the heat back down to medium and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is cooked through. Add chicken broth and simmer for 10 minutes. Than add the puréed tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, simmer for 10 minutes more.
   
4. In the meantime, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta 1 minute less of al dente according to the package directions.
5. Toss the pasta with the bolognese sauce, transfer to a heatproof bowl. Top with both mozzarella cheeses and pine nuts. Transfer to the oven and bake 10 minutes at 200°C/400°F, or until the cheese is melted and has that nice golden brown color.
6. Serve bubbling from the oven for true comfort food. Enjoy!

Notes

Calories Per Serving: 599 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Did you make this recipe?

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