Zucchini, Eggplant, and Melty Mozzarella Pasta

Your new favorite quick pasta dish + a cherry cocktail

Though I like to think of myself as laid-back and impulsive, a part of me loves to plan (a large part – or, perhaps, if you ask my husband, it’s actually my whole personality). While I’m no perfectionist and definitely not a stickler for the details, I love the assurance of knowing what’s going to happen.

This, naturally, makes me the person who books restaurant reservations, researches vacation destinations, plans toddler activities, and, of course, comes up with a meal plan for the week. I obviously love to cook, and while I perhaps once was the casual-cool girl who could roam the farmers’ market, grabbing whatever caught her eye and turning it into dinner, I’ve realized that a shopping list is much more my style. I think part of it is because being a mom makes it nearly impossible to make grocery runs every day, part of it is because I used to end up wasting a lot of food, and part of it is because I think about food a lot so naturally deciding what I’m going to cook and eat that week is a fun little activity. 

But even with a meal plan and grocery list in hand, there’s always room for experimentation and intuition in my kitchen. The chicken that was bookmarked for soup becomes kebabs, the celery and carrots that were going to join it in broth end up in bolognese, and what, oh what, exactly, did I think I was going to do with all of this zucchini that my husband’s coworker grew?

This is when I freestyle, which is my preferred way of cooking and, honestly, always leads to the best results. Like a few weekends ago, when a few odds and ends became lunch, and that lunch became today’s pasta recipe. I had an eggplant, a few zucchini, and half a ball of mozzarella cheese – not the worst ingredients to begin with. I ended up making a quick, cheesy veggie dish, which was so good that I made it again with the addition of pasta, and, voilà, a new dish to add to the meal planning rotation was born. 

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Zucchini, Eggplant, and Mozzarella Pasta 

This pasta comes together in under half an hour and manages to somehow toe the line between light and comforting. The veggies and cheese are the stars of the show, but an honorary mention goes to the splash of white wine and pats of butter that make the sauce creamy-dreamy and delightfully unctuous while still keeping it from feeling too heavy. It’s ideal for a weeknight dinner (cut the veggies ahead of time and it’ll be on the table even faster!), a weekend lunch, or whenever you just need a big bowl of pasta. Which, let’s be honest, is always.