📋 Baked Eggplant Pasta Anelletti

This eggplant pasta is another classic Sicilian recipe where the eggplant is often the main ingredient of many dishes. Traditionally it is made with Anelletti and filled with scamorza or caciocavallo, it is perfect for a dinner party and a vegetarian main dish, it can be prepared ahead.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword baked pasta with eggplants, Eggplants timbal

Prep Time 28

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 1 28

Servings people

Calories 484kcal

Author Laura Tobin

Equipment

Ingredients

1 lb anelletti pasta substitute with pipe, pennette or wheels
4 eggplants
2 cups homemade tomato sauce
1 cloves peeled garlic cloves
10 fresh basil leaves
8 oz scamorza or mozzarella
4 oz ricotta salata or pecorino or Parmesan
6 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
⅓ cup breadcrumbs for coating
salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Grilling the eggplants

Peel the eggplants and cut them into slices length wide
4 eggplants
Slightly brush a frying pan with olive oil
6 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Grill the eggplants turning them on each side
They do not need to be completely cooked as they will bake in the oven

Preparing the Anelletti

Cook the Anelletti in boiling water, but only half of the time written in the package
1 lb anelletti pasta
In the meantime, prepare the tomato sauce by stir-frying two garlic cloves and removing them once brown
1 cloves peeled garlic cloves
Add the tomato sauce and simmer it with the basil leaves and 1 teaspoon of salt
2 cups homemade tomato sauce, 10 fresh basil leaves, salt
Drain the Anelletti
Mix them with a few spoons of tomato sauce immediately
Season them with grated Ricotta Salata, or Pecorino, or Parmesan
4 oz ricotta salata or pecorino or Parmesan

Prepare the baking pan

Prepare the baking pan by coating the base and the edges with olive oil
6 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Coat the base and the edges of the pan with the eggplant slices and sprinkle with salt
salt
Cut the remaining eggplants into chunks and add them to the remaining tomato sauce
Mix half of the sauce with the Anelletti and leave the rest for serving at the end

Putting it all together

Pour the Anelletti over the eggplant layer inside the baking pan, but only halfway
Lay chunks of scamorza or mozzarella cheese in the middle of the ring
8 oz scamorza or mozzarella
Cover with the remaining Anelletti
Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs
⅓ cup breadcrumbs for coating
Bake in a hot oven at 350 F - 180C for 30 minutes

Placing it on a serving dish

Once it is ready, wait at least 10 minutes before turning over a serving dish
With a knife, loosen up the edges of the Timbal from the side of the pan
Place the serving dish on top
Turn the dish and the pan around
Remove the pan
Fill the hole with the leftover tomato sauce
Decorate with some basil leaves and serve warm

Video

Notes

This recipe is usually made using Sicilian cheese: ricotta salata, caciocavallo or scamorza. Since these cheeses are not easy to find in every country you can replace them with mozzarella and parmesan.
Anelletti is also not easy to find, so you can use other pasta like pennette, pipe or wheel. Whatever pasta shape you want, I recommend using an Italian brand. The secret to this baked pasta is that it stays firm al dente while other brands may turn into a mushy mess (if you know what I mean).
When you boil the pasta, cook it for only half of the time written in the package
You can prepare all the ingredients and compose the Timbal the day before and bake it before serving
Make sure the eggplants do not have too many seeds
Wait at least 10 minutes before turning over a serving dish

Nutrition