Aubergine and tomato pasta
If I had a penny for all the people who say they don’t like aubergines I’d have £2.50 by now.
This includes my sprogeny, who maintains that aubergines are “DISGUSTING” but who polished off a plate of this double quick and asked for more. Then I told him it was made with aubergines, well you could’ve heard a pin drop. Mumskills.
Anyway, whether you love or loathe aubergines I think you will adore this.
- Prep: 10 mins
- Cook: 35 mins
- Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 2 shiny aubergines
- olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 fat clove of garlic finely chopped
- pinch of sugar
- splash of any wine if you have it knocking about, if not no problem
- tablespoon of dried mixed herbs
- sea salt
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
- generous squeeze of tomato puree, probably about a heaped dessert spoonful
- grated parmesan for serving
- coarse ground black pepper
- fresh oregano, finely chopped
- 160g of casarecce pasta*
By the way, this would also be nice with a bit of chopped red chilli added at onion-frying stage.
Nuush clients: Please apply the portion sizes stated in your account and divide the recipe so that you make only as much you need.
Instructions
*Pasta shape matters. Certain pasta shapes hold certain sauces better. You wouldn’t want a big thick pasta shape with this or you’d lose some of the sauce’s character in it, but a fine spaghettini wouldn’t be ideal either. Casarecce has folds and allows the sauce inside them without being so thick that it becomes the main event. Farfalle or twists would just be annoying! Spaghetti would be the next best. Am I rambling?
Heat the oven to about 180 degrees and just put the whole aubergines in there to roast until soft. It takes about 30-40 mins.
Heat the oil in a BIG heavy-based frying pan and add the onion, sugar and garlic, gently fry them until the onion is translucent. If you have a bit of wine add a big glug now and let it sizzle down for a minute. Mean time boil a large saucepan of salted water for the pasta and start cooking the pasta until it’s al dente (keeps some ‘bite’), it’ll take about 10-12 minutes.
Then add the mixed herbs and salt to the onions and garlic, give it a stir and a bit more of a fry before adding the tinned tomatoes and purée. You want to mash the tomatoes down with a potato masher to get rid of most of the lumpiness. Now gently simmer for 5-10 minutes to let the flavours intensify while you deal with the aubergines.
Take the cooked aubergines and split them in half, scoop out the flesh and add it to the frying pan giving it all a good stir so the whole thing becomes one.
Cook for another few minutes then drain the pasta (never drain it fully, you want a little of the starchy water to stay with it) and throw it in with the sauce. Keep the heat on and stir to combine.
Serve it in nice bowls with plenty of Parmesan, black pepper and a sprinkle of the fresh oregano.
Nutrition Info
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are rich in lycopene which is a pokey antioxidant. Antioxidants are like bouncers at a night club, they go around finding stray electrons that are busy causing trouble in your body, and find them a love partner so they can both stay in and cuddle on the sofa.
Tomatoes are also a brilliant source of vitamin C, which supports skin and connective tissue health as well as immunity and iron absorption. The biotin in tomatoes is good for controlling blood sugar.
Find your new natural
Eat pasta, run fasta.
Portion Guidelines
Instead of living with the bore of weighing food, counting points or calories and tapping everything you eat into a phone you can use nature’s custom-designed tool – your hands!
