Pasta is an ultimate comfort food
and I've given it the superfood treatment
teaming it up with a sauce celebrating
silky aubergines, sweet and tangy tomato
spiked with garlic, basil and chili.
It's a comfort food dish with no guilt at all
really healthy
and it's all about loving these.
So, I'm just gonna take the end off the aubergine
like that.
Just get rid of that little stalk.
I'm gonna zip the aubergines in half
and criss-cross the flesh here
just to let the steam in.
And about 20-25 minutes of good steaming
is all we need to make these lovely aubergines
incredibly creamy and silky
and elegant and gorgeous.
We're also gonna steam two chilies,
but prick them first to stop them exploding.
Next lightly toast 40 grams of pine nuts.
This is a vegetarian dish,
but we still want to get that hit of protein
so we're getting it from the ricotta,
the parmesan and the pine nuts.
Just kind of badly pound them up
so you get some chunks,
you get some whole ones,
but also you get some kind of mush as well.
And it's like a little sprinkle at the end
with a little parmesan, some basil leaves.
It's gonna look and taste incredible.
Finely slice two cloves of garlic
and remove about 30 grams worth
of basil leaves from the stalk.
There is flavour and fibre.
So this is going to go into the base
of my sauce
and there's a kind of sweetness in the stalks
that you get, that you don't get in the leaves.
We're gonna put a tablespoon of oil in a pan.
Let's put in our garlic
and our basil stalks.
Then I'm gonna go very quickly in
with two tins of lovely tomatoes.
Pour the tomatoes in,
refill the tins with water
and add to the pan.
Lovely,
so bring it to the boil,
get the heat nice and high
and then break up those tomatoes with the spoon
and then we'll turn it down to a little
gentler medium heat.
Let that bubble away for ten minutes.
Time to cook your pasta
and I'm gonna use the water
that's been steaming the aubergines.
I'm using whole wheat to ramp up the fibre.
Let's check our steamed veg.
Look at that.
You can kind of feel already that they're
getting sort of absolutely silky smooth.
Just pull the chilies out.
They're gonna be nice and tender
and sweet.
Just take the end off.
Use the tip of the knife
and just run it down the length of the chilli.
You can see how tender it is.
You can open it out like a book.
You can see where the skin and the flesh
just separate and
we can just use the tip of the knife
to get rid of all the seeds.
So, that's the really hot part of the chili.
What I do want is the fruit.
So if you see how brilliantly this skin comes off
when you steam it,
absolutely beautiful.
Next,
finely slice the chili
and add to the pan.
Stir that beautiful chili in
and what we can do to speed up the texture
just use potato masher to just squash
the tomatoes like that.
Now, let's have a little feel of the aubergine.
You want it just to fall apart,
so can you just tear it?
Yeah
that's exactly what I want.
Gorgeous
and all I'm gonna do now is simmer this.
Let it all cook into each other,
almost casserole.
And that
is gonna be beautiful.
Leave to reduce down for about seven to ten minutes.
So, it's looking good.
Let's drain the pasta.
It's had its time.
This is ricotta.
It's a very, very light cheese.
It's a wonderful carrier of flavours.
You can see it's bright and delicate and gorgeous.
We'll go in with the pasta,
in with the basil.
I love the way the ricotta
just kind of curds and breaks up.
So gently does it.
This is for four people,
so it's generous.
So, look if you're happy to give it a toss
that's even better
although you do sort of
cover yourself with it,
but that's alright.
Just go over to a nice big platter
pour that lovely sauce over it
so generous, so sweet.
It's so beautiful.
Scatter with more bright, punchy basil
then the toasted pine nut crumbs.
And then a light brush of parmesan
from a height,
all over the place
and that my friends
is one of my favourite pastas.
It's really, really good.
So, that really is a superfood classic pasta dish,
gorgeous.
It's got all of the food groups;
dairy, protein, carbohydrates and your veg
and look at it.
Right, let's get in there.
Let's have a go.
mmm
The aubergine is silky smooth,
a sweet tomato sauce
and that hit of chili
is really, really, good.
mmm
And you know what
it's four hundred and seventy calories,
it's really, really good.
A little side salad
and you are laughing.