Eggplant, simply prepared, makes a great pasta sauce
Eggplant, tomatoes and peppers are the holy trinity of late summer vegetables, to my mind. Their flavours blend together perfectly in this easy pasta sauce, offering a speedy, delicious dinner.
Eggplant is one of my favourite vegetables, but I find the traditional method of preparation — salting slices of eggplant to draw out the juices, then rinsing — much too painstaking.
Instead, I buy a nice glossy eggplant, slice into half-inch (one cm) thick rounds, brush with oil, and brown them under the broiler. Then I chop them up and cook with the other ingredients.
Using that technique, you can have a lovely sauce in less than 30 minutes, which goes beautifully with short pasta like rigatoni or penne.
But for added nutrition, I like to use fresh ravioli, which you can buy in the grocery store. Many of them contain cheese or meat, so you’ll have the protein you need from the meal. And they cook very quickly. They’re done less than five minutes after you drop them into boiling water or sauce. I like cooking pasta in the sauce I’m planning to serve it with; it makes the pasta more flavourful.
As always, omit the vegetables you don’t like and add the ones you do. Mushrooms and spinach would both be great in this sauce. Both my kids loath peppers, so I tried making the sauce without it and it was still very good.
If you have a little fresh basil lingering around the garden, so much the better.
Enjoy!