I recall from my first experience as a vegetarian, that I got very bored with meat substitutes very quickly, and tended to resort to a quick veggie burger or cheese pizza for dinner. I refuse to go down that same path again, as it actually caused significant weight gain, and made it very easy for me to slowly ooze my way back into meat eating. So, I work on ways to incorporate as many vegetables, with as many colors, textures, tastes, and smells into my dishes. One of my favorite vegetables to experiment with is eggplant (look for a Greek pizza in the near future, featuring roasted eggplant). Now, I am not going to be one of those vegetarians who never misses meat--I love meat; it's delicious, so I fully admit that I look for substitutes in the veggie world that approximate the texture, if not the flavor of meat. Enter the blessed eggplant, which, despite its mushy reputation, is actually quite meaty in combination with mushrooms, and adds a wonderful creaminess to pasta dishes.
So, last night, I intended on consuming a lone but fabulous dinner salad. However, I was rescued from this notion by the lovely Natalie, who suggested pasta instead when I shared with her my dinner plans. Immediately, I thought, hmm, in support of my recent move back to veggieism, why not take that pasta and make it sing by throwing in some fresh eggplant, mushrooms, onions, spinach, garlic, green beans, and red peppers. The green beans and peppers were vetoed by my now very willing taste tester, and as she had been gracious enough to provide the sauce, I agreed with her decision.*
*Disclaimer: that doesn't mean I wouldn't strongly encourage anyone to add the aforementioned offenders--as long as the green beans are fresh, and the red peppers cook until appropriate softness! Also, had I had a few kalamata olives handy, I would have thrown those in there as well.
Okay, so here is the recipe/process for this yet to be named dish. Right now, I am just calling it Impromptu Pasta Skillet
1 box of farfalle (I like to use small pasta for something like this; rigatoni or penne would work well as well. This pasta tends to pick up the delicious chunks of veggie/spice/sauce/cheese much better than spaghetti.
1 can of spaghetti sauce; last night we used Bertolli's fire roasted tomato with Cabernet--yum (yeah, yeah, I can make my own, but not for impromptu pasta skillets)
1/2 large eggplant, skin on, cubed
6 to 8 extra large button mushrooms (no portabella around--impromptu, remember)
1 onion, diced rather finely
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 bunch of spinach
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan
1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella
Italian seasoning
crushed red pepper
garlic powder
1/4 cup of red wine
3/4 cup of veggie stock
olive oil
After chilling with Natalie and a glass of wine, I got down to business by chopping all of my veggies. I also realized I'd bought some veggie Italian sausage in my search for appropriately tasty meat substitutes, so, while I boiled water for my pasta, and chopped the vegetables, I placed two sausage links in a pan, and sauteed them with a bit of olive oil, so as to facilitate proper browning. After about seven minutes of browning, I removed the links, added a bit more oil to the pan and added the eggplant.
Now, eggplant, if you have ever tried to fry it before, dear reader, eggplant loves oil; they are bffs, but thighs and oil are not bffs, so in order to cook the eggplant without drowning it in oil, I used the 3/4 cup of veggie stock. This allowed me to quickly cook the eggplant and provided yet another means of adding flavor to the dish. Note that I tend to cook generally between medium high, medium, and medium low. I kept the eggplant at medium, a nice steady bubble. After the egg plant began to soften, I added the onion, garlic, and mushrooms. By this time, the liquid had reduced to about 1/2 of its original quantity, so I reintroduced the mock Italian sausage, and the 1/4 cup of red wine, along with the Italian seasoning, the crushed red pepper, and the garlic powder (I like garlic, like excessive amounts). Finally, I added 1/2 of the jar of sauce and let this simmer for about 10 minutes on low.
In the meantime, I finished boiling the pasta to al dente, and removed all but 1/4 cup of the cooking water and put the pasta back into the cooking pot. As my sautee pan is not very large, I added my sauce/veggie mixture to the pasta. I then stirred in the rest of the sauce and adjusted the seasoning a bit (more crushed red pepper for sure). Finally, I stirred in the cheese and let the mixture reduce for about 10 more minutes. The results, as shown below, were a rousing success. Natalie ate until near explosion, and Kevin, who has pretty much decided carbs are from the devil, had two bowlfuls. Yum!
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