Pasta with Aubergines, Garlic, Oil…

…with Grandma’s trick
One of those pastas for unexpected guests, easy but tasty, which I prepared with white pasta, but I think that wholewheat would suit as well.


Ingredients:
(serves 2)
1 medium aubergine
2-3 cloves of garlic
chilli
parsley
extra virgin olive oil
a couple of tablespoons of breadcrumbs
white or wholewheat pasta
nutritional yeast flakes (if desired)

Method:
I love aubergines, but I say it frankly, I almost never have the patience to salt them, put them in a colander to drain, etc.. So, for many years, I’ve been using a sort of “grandma’s trick”, which I think works very well. This is what I do:
I cut the aubergine into cubes, I heat very well one of those heavy skillet and place the aubergine in, with a bit of salt, but without oil or anything else, making them cook at high heat, stirring often so they do not burn, until they halve in volume.
Then I lower the heat and add a little extra virgin olive oil, chopped garlic and parsley, a piece or two of chili and I cook for a few minutes. Doing so, the aubergine dries out, and this prevents them from absorbing huge quantities of oil.
Separately, or in a corner of the same pan, I fry some breadcrumbs for a minute or two max, stirring them constantly and then adding the aubergine. When I drain pasta, I place it in the same pan and let it season for max one minute. We added a little nutritional yeast flakes and we accompanied with an amazing “Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi”.

Chef: Cri from VeganBlog

1. ascanio 7 October 2010 at 17:18

   

   Love aubergines. In every dish. this sounds really good

   
   
2. EleonoraNW3 7 October 2010 at 17:27

   

   I like abergines as well, and I very much like your method…to be honest I never salt and drain them, as they don’t give me any kind of problems but maybe I’m just lucky – I understand that for someone they are really hard to digest. Anyway…thanks for this!

   
   
3. Cassandra78 7 October 2010 at 17:39

   

   I like aubergines as well but I do not understand the point of salt and drain them could someone explain please?

   
   
4. Lisa 7 October 2010 at 18:54

   

   Great! 🙂

   
   
5. ascanio 7 October 2010 at 19:17

   

   Hi Cassandra. The problem is, as far as I know, that they contain a lot of tannin, which for some people may be toxic (they don’t die, but could be very disturbing, causing problems with digestion, head aches and so on); the salt draws the water out from vegetables, removing as well a good percentage of tannin. As far as remember, this should be done with courgettes as well, not sure thogu