Nemo’s Kitchen

Last night I made a tasty vegetable sauce on pasta. Not your usual peas, beans and carrots, but this pasta dish has a sauce full of zucchini, peppers, and aubergines. It’s colorful and packed with flavor, everybody loved it!

Ingredients: (for 6 plates)

• 2 medium aubergines (aka brinjals or eggplant)
• 4 large zucchini (aka baby marrows)
• 2 bell peppers (one red and one yellow)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 300ml tomato puree in a bottle (or tinned tomato pulp)

Optionals:

• 1 onion, roughly chopped, added along with other vegetables
• 1 chili pepper, finely cut, added once tomato puree is in

Method:

1. wash all vegetables, peel garlic and remove pips from the bell peppers
2. cut the aubergines in half length-ways, then into large cubes, about 2cm thick
3. cut zucchini in half length-ways, then into large cubes, about 1-2cm thick
4. put oil in a large pan and heat on high
5. add zucchini and aubergines to fry, stirring occasionally as you continue…
6. add 1 teaspoon salt, mix
7. cut peppers into strips, about half cm thick and 4cm long
8. add peppers to the pan and mix
9. continue to fry vegetables till they start turning brown
10. if vegetables start to stick to the pan, add 1 glass of water at a time to keep it moist
11. cook with lid on until aubergines are mushy and zucchini are cooked (about 20min)
12. add 1 glass of water and stir occasionally to avoid drying up and sticking
13. taste and add 1 teaspoon salt if necessary
14. add 300ml tomato puree or pulp, mix and cover, cook till boiling
15. add black pepper
16. lower the heat and cover it, stir occasionally and adjust water if necessary, keep it boiling slowly
17. fill a large pot with water and put it on high heat for the pasta
18. I use spaghetti for this sauce, follow cooking instructions on pasta package
19. finely chop or crush the garlic (I use a garlic crusher)
20. add garlic to the sauce and continue cooking it on low heat till pasta is done
21. remember to stir occasionally and keep adjusting water and add salt if necessary

The aubergines become mushy and create a thick sauce so it will not be very liquid, but a thick, dark sauce. The water is just to avoid sticking and burning.

• Once the pasta is done, drain it and pour all the sauce over the pasta.
• Mix it well and serve
• we like to add grated Parmesan cheese on ours

Enjoy!