Eggplant pasta
I did not like eggplant growing up, but I have been enjoying it a lot nowadays.
This dish is a must for eggplant lovers; it's very quick to make, and very eggplant-forward.
The current recipe makes about 2 servings and takes 20 minutes from start to finish, out of which 5 is prep time.
Ingredients:
- Pasta (spaghetti preferred, around 150 g)
- a cup of chopped eggplant
- olive oil
- chopped garlic (4-5 cloves)
- chili flakes
- some cilantro (optional)
- cream or half-and-half (2 or 3 tbsp)
Preparation:
Put the pasta in lightly salted boiling water in a different pan and let it boil as per the pasta box's instruction for al-dente.
Pour some olive oil as desired in the pan (be generous; olive oil does good lifting here), add garlic, and switch on the stove on medium heat.
After the garlic is sizzling, add chili flakes. Let the pan sizzle again; you can crack fresh pepper if you need to (optional).
Once you see the garlic turning slightly brown, add your eggplant with some salt. Increase the heat up to medium-high. The vegetable is going to suck up the oil; don't worry, it's going to release the oil back, so don't add more oil.
Let the eggplant fry up and get a good color.
Once the pasta is done, strain it while saving a cup of pasta water. Dump your pasta in the pan with the fried eggplant, reduce the heat to low, add some pasta water, and toss it.
Pour in a touch of cream and mix well. If you have some cilantro, it's about time to add it. (Turn off the stove.)
Let it rest for a minute; do keep the consistency lose so that you see a sauce, and add pasta water if need be.
Serve on a plate, and pour some olive oil and some sea salt sprinkled on top for elevating the dish.
You have a very good quick pasta done!