richard I came across this Loyd Grossman recipe whilst driving my decrepit G4 along the Information Super Highway. Obviously Mr Grossman recommends we use one of his jars of special authentic Italian-style tomato pasta sauces, but (equally obviously) if you’re taking the time and trouble to cook a meal from scratch, what’s the point?
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Skill level: Easy
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- spaghetti – enough for 2 – about 220g
- tin of tomatoes
- half an onion – finely chopped
- aubergine (just the skin)
- garlic – 2 cloves – crushed
- olive oil
- basil leaves – good handful
- mozzarella
- 4 tomatoes – roughly chopped
- sugar – 1 tsp
- balsamic vinegar – 1 tsp
- s & p
Start by making a basic tomato sauce. Fry up the garlic and onion, add the tomatoes, balsamic and sugar and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes. Season and set aside.
Cook the spaghetti in the usual way.
Meanwhile slice the skin off the aubergine (to a depth of about 4mm) and cut into batons. Fry in olive oil until just beginning to crisp. Add the tomato sauce and simmer until the pasta is ready. If necessary add a little of the pasta water to keep it moist.
Add the pasta to the sauce and stir.
Place the chopped tomato, mozzarella and torn basil in a large serving bowl and add the pasta.
Mix together to destribute the heat.
Serve.
Verdict: Great stuff Loyd. A good solid bowl of tasty pasta … the addition of the aubergine skins is a nice touch.
Drink: A pair of Bitburgers before, the remnants of a bottle of red during.
Entertainment: The final of Euro 2008. A well deserved and popular victory for Spain. As all the pundits repeatably pointed out, the winning goal was scored by a Liverpool player and so it was technically a victory for England.
Eggplant skins? My, that’s certainly intriguing.