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How to Make Whole Wheat Pasta with Tomato Eggplant Sauce

Combining Tomato Sauce, Eggplant and Pasta

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Amy Riolo
Author, Cooking Instructor, Food Writer, Culinary Consultant
http://www.amyriolo.com/  
 

Amy Riolo is an internationally recognized culinary expert specializing in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean culture and cuisine. As a cookbook author, lecturer, food historian, food writer, culinary consultant, and cooking instructor, Amy promotes her philosophy of cooking and living with both pleasure and health. Her first book, Arabian Delights; Recipes & Princely Entertaining Ideas from the Arabian Peninsula has received rave reviews (Capital Books). Her second book Nile Style; Egyptian Cuisine and Culture (Hippocrene Books) will be released in spring 2009. She is also completing The Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook, (American Diabetes Association) which will be released in spring 2010.

Amy’s popular lectures range in topics and include everything from Middle Eastern business etiquette to the history of various cuisines. She has been an invited guest speaker for the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Welcome to Washington International, Montgomery College, Les Dames D’Escoffier, The Baltimore-Luxor-Alexandria Sister City Committee and the Mycological Association of Washington, DC. Amy also makes frequent appearances on numerous television and radio programs both in the United States and Egypt including Fox TV, Montgomery and Fairfax County TV, Nile TV and WHYY.           

Amy currently writes the “Culture and Cuisine” feature for the Baltimore- Luxor-Alexandria Sister City Committee. She has also written articles for Cooking Light Magazine, Azizah Magazine, and the Kulanu newsletter. A graduate of Cornell University, Amy has experience in vocational, recreational, and children’s instruction, as well as corporate team building and cultural/culinary events. Her knowledge of the Italian, French, Spanish, and Arabic languages has enabled her to interpret many cultures and cuisines with intimacy and ease. She regularly teaches cooking classes at Sur la Table in Arlington, Virginia, and for private organizations.

A successful culinary consultant, Amy enjoys developing menus, recipes, training seminars, and themes for corporations, restaurants, and hotels. Amy is often asked to work as a consultant for museums where she creates menus and décor which represent the theme of new collections. In addition, she works with curators to incorporate sensory components like scent, touch, and taste into the schedule of events, allowing museum patrons to fully experience each exhibit.

Amy is a member of The International Association of Culinary Professionals, Culinary Historians of Washington, Les Dames d’Escoffier, Slow Food DC, Welcome to Washington International (where she co-chairs the Gourmet Committee), Cornell Club of Washington, the Women’s National Book Association, and the Baltimore – Luxor – Alexandria Sister City Committee (Where she is the chairperson of the Baltimore Friends of the Alexandria Library). Amy is based in the Washington DC, area and maintains a home in Egypt. She is currently organizing culinary tours to both the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Combining Tomato Sauce, Eggplant and Pasta

 

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Tomato

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Eggplant

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Sauce

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Penne

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Penne alla norma

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Healthy

,

Whole wheat pasta

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Combining Tomato Sauce, Eggplant and Pasta

Ingredients

 

1 large (1 pound) Farmers Market eggplant

2 tablespoons H.T. Traders extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 cloves Farmers Market garlic, minced

1/2 ( box or bottle (26-ounces) strained Harris Teeter tomatoes or tomato puree

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

3 Farmers Market basil leaves, roughly torn

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese, divided

1/2 pound H.T. Traders whole wheat  penne rigate

Instructions

1. Preheat broiler. Using a sharp knife, slice eggplant into ¼-inch slices and place on a baking sheet. Reserve 2 tablespoons of olive oil and brush the rest onto the eggplant slices. Broil for 5-7 minutes per side until they are dark golden and cooked through. Set aside to cool. (This step can be done a day in advance).

 

2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until it begins to release its aroma - do not allow garlic to turn color.

 

3. Pour in tomatoes, and stir.  Add crushed red pepper, basil, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

 

4. When eggplant is cool enough to handle, stack 3 slices together, and chop into dime size pieces. Bring pasta water to a boil over high heat.

 

5. After sauce has cooked for 20 minutes, turn off heat, remove lid, and add eggplant pieces and pecorino cheese, stir well.  Cover, and simmer sauce on medium heat until pasta is done cooking (10-12 minutes).

 

6. Add pasta and a pinch of salt to boiling water.  Stir well. Reduce heat to medium and cook until al-dente, stirring often. Drain pasta well.  Pour sauce over pasta and stir to combine. Pour into a serving platter and serve hot.

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Transcripts

Amy Riolo: Hi, I'm Amy Riolo. Today, I am working in the kitchen at Sur La Table in Arlington, Virginia. We're making Whole Wheat Pasta with Tomato Eggplant Sauce. In this clip, I am going to show you how to chop our eggplant and add it to our tomato sauce. Our eggplant has been taken out of the oven and they have cooled, so we are ready to chop them and add them to our sauce. We will just stack them up like this and then we'll cut them into bite size pieces. These are going to taste delicious in the sauce. Actually, the skin of the eggplant has a lot of nutrients in it too, so you definitely don't bother taking the skin off your eggplant. So now we've got all of our eggplant ready, so I am going to open up the tomato sauce which has been simmering. Always open your lids away from you, in that way the steam will come up but it won't hurt you. Then we are going to just slide our eggplant right in and we'll stir this up.

These are the kinds of sauces that you want to pair with whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta needs something that has a lot of chunkiness to it and it has a lot of bold flavor that can really stand up to the texture of the whole wheat pasta. I am going to add in our cheese and this is about cup of pecorino romano cheese. You could add more or less and you won't need a lot of slat in this recipe because the cheese has some salt in it. So you can feel now in our sauce, the color has changed, it's become much more thick. We're just going to put our lid back on, we are going to let this simmer for 10 minutes. So now we have just finished straining our whole wheat pasta, and our tomato sauce and egg plant have finished simmering. What I am going to do is I am going to start pouring my pasta right into my serving bowl. Then I am going to add about three-quarters of the sauce and I am going to leave a little bit on the top, just to spread out and to finish off the dish.

In Italy they say that a day without pasta is like a day without sun. Whole wheat pasta really is a great option, especially when you have a nice vegetable base sauce, like this, that is full of vitamins and nutrients and not a lot of excess calories. To top the dish, what we're going to do is put a little bit of more sauce right on the top. So if you go to a restaurant and you see Penne alla Norma, you will now know what it is. You will know how to make it at home and it's something that you will be able to make with our family anytime. I am going to sprinkle some more cheese on top and you can garnish it with some more freshly chopped basil. I just have one leaf, I am going to put it right in the middle. There you have it, enjoy!

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