"Very Involved" Ziti with Eggplant and Tomatoes


Last week, a good friend of mine texted me, "I just made a very involved pasta salad". At the time, I thought, "hmm, okay cool... random, send me the recipe." But now after having made said pasta salad, I realize how much that is the understatement of the year. "Very involved" is exactly how I would describe it. Don't believe the New York Times' estimated prep time of forty-five minutes - it took me closer to an hour and a half or two hours to make.

But it is pretty delicious. And a ton of food. 

Ingredients:
2 lb ripe campari tomatoes, cut in wedges
5 Tbsp Olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 or 3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
2 Tbsp capers, rinsed and chopped (optional)
2 medium eggplants, about 1 pound
12 oz whole wheat ziti or other short pasta
6 oz mild feta
1 small bunch of basil, for garnish

Directions:
1. Heat broiler. Put tomato wedges in a shallow baking dish in one layer. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Broil tomatoes about 2 inches from heat until softened and lightly charred, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside until cool, and then add garlic, and red pepper flakes and capers, if desired. Stir gently to distribute.

2. Slice eggplant into long strips about 1/4-inch thick. Paint the top of eggplant strips with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Lower oven temperature to 400 degrees and roast eggplant for 10-15 minutes, or until soft.

3. Boil the pasta until al dente. Drain and rinse briefly, and blot dry. Put the pasta in a wide serving bowl, and add tomato mixture and eggplant. Toss gently to distribute. Taste for salt and hot pepper and adjust.

4. Crumble cheese over top. Drizzle with tomato juices leftover in the pan, and garnish with chopped basil. 

Adapted from: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016647-cool-ziti-with-eggplant-and-tomatoes

Allergens: wheat, milk
Nutrition (1/6 recipe): 330 calories, 19 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 338 mg sodium, 786 mg potassium, 34 g carbohydrates, 9 g fiber, 10 g protein, 25% vitamin A, 32% vitamin C, 17% calcium, 11% iron 23% vitamin B-6, 10% vitamin E, 16% copper, 16% copper, 18% folate, 17% magnesium, 61% manganese, 14% niacin, 14% pantothenic acid, 23% phosphorous, 24% riboflavin, 29% selenium, 20% thiamin, 11% zinc
Cost (1/6 recipe): $3.08

P.S. The quality of the pasta salad was decreased by about the fourth day - especially the eggplant. So, unless you are making it for a party or a group, you probably want to cut the recipe in half to make sure it gets eaten.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
In my search for easy recipes, I ended up on quite a few emailing lists - Better Homes & Gardens, Food Network, Tastebook all have the privilege of spamming me. At work today, I was browsing through recipes for "Crisp Summer Salads" and I was shocked at what passed for a salad. The first "salad" - The Layered Spinach and Pot Sticker Salad - on the list included potstickers, strawberries and strawberry jam as ingredients. Then to add insult to injury, they tell you to whip up a recipe of " Spiced Chips ". As is frozen chicken pot stickers weren't unhealthy enough. It isn't a salad just because it has spinach! Next is the Southern Cobb Salad , and to it's credit, it looks like a salad. However, I don't even want to think about what constitutes the " cheese dressing ". I'm terribly confused by the Smoked Salmon and Melon Salad . I guess it counts as fruit salad, but why I would mix salmon with cantaloupe, honeydew and blueber...
Read more

Eat This Not That Part I

Image
I recently saw a copy of the book, Eat This Not That , and I thought it was a cool idea, so I am starting my own version with products I use at home rather than at restaurants. First on my list is Eat ReddiWhip not Cool Whip. Cool whip is delicious, especially when frozen, but it was not until I bought some for myself to go with strawberries that I realized how horribly fake it is. According to Dietfacts.com, they include: INGREDIENTS:WATER, CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, POLYSORBATE 60, POLYSORBATE 65, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR). So, they don't actually have any milk in them, they have less than 2% of one milk derivative and a bunch of additives to maintain freshness and composition. We all know hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup are bad for us, an...
Read more
Image
As promised, here is a picture of the squash risotto recipe. I have started to get into uncharted territory with this recipe, but I invited over my good friend who makes butternut squash all the time. What really threw me off about this recipe was that even though we halved the recipe, we still needed a lot of broth to cook the risotto. We used all 2 cups of the broth plus some cooking wine, and still the risotto was burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan. I think this is one recipe that cannot be cut in half, or else you can't skimp on the broth. Instead of mixing in the parmesan cheese, we sprinkled it on top at the table, and it really had a big impact on the flavor. For dessert, we had more butternut squash with cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg - yum!
Read more