Regular readers will remember that I recently attempted to have aubergines and my taste buds make friends after a lifetime of estrangement.
I did this by following a few recipes and doing lots of reading, and it worked. I actually kinda like aubergine now. So much so that I wanted to try coming up with a recipe myself.
If you need a 15 minute meal or a one pot wonder, I’m really sorry buddy but you’ve landed on the wrong recipe, this is kinda long winded.
But guys, I would not be publishing this if it wasn’t insanely delicious, so if you’ve got a little time and can be arsed with using more than one pan to cook your dinner today, you will not be disappointed with this dish.
Also, in my defence, it does only have 5 ingredients. That’s a winner, right?
I think it’s down to the amount of garlic I used – like 4 cloves for one serving, don’t be afraid. Or the fact that mascarpone is technically a dessert thing so its creaminess feels more luxurious. Or perhaps its because roasted aubergines and red peppers are so sweet and delicious.
Whatever it is, this works. It works so good.
This recipe serves one because.. I’m a loner. But you can totally scale it up, you just might wanna fry the aubergine in batches. Let’s get into it.
Oh, wait, I just want to make one last thing clear. This is ridiculously tasty because I used white, run of the mill spaghetti. It will not, I repeat will not taste as good if you use courgetti or brown rice pasta or whatever. But I get it if that’s what you need to do, you do you baby.
Serves 1
1/2 an aubergine
1/2 a tub of mascarpone (so just over 100g)
1 red pepper
3-4 cloves of garlic
100g spaghetti
more olive oil than you might initially suspect (said from experience)
- Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4 (conversions here)
- Cut your aubergine into half moon shapes (as pictured above). Heat a really good glug of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan (be prepared to potentially need to add more in a bit, aubergines are like bloody sponges) on a high heat. Fry the aubergines without moving them about too much for three minutes on one side, and two minutes on the other. You’re looking for a good and proper golden brown.
- Get them straight out of that pan and into a roasting dish, oil and all. Add a little salt, give them a quick stir then set aside for a second.
- Chop your pepper into roughly four slices, chuck them in a little roasting dish and oil/salt em up.
- Get the peppers and the aubergine into the top shelf of the oven and cook for about 40 minutes. After this time, take out the aubergine (get it out of that oil and onto kitchen paper ASAP) and whack the heat up to full (I’m talking gas 8/9) on those peppers for another 10 minutes so that they get maximum sweet deliciousness.
- Once all your roasting is done, just chill for a sec while you wait for the peppers to cool. Then slice em up (really roughly) and set aside. You can peel them if you want but I really can’t be bothered, I like the flavour and I don’t find the skins texturally displeasing..
- Cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions.
- Slice your garlic finely-ish but don’t mince it, you want visible slices, heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and gently brown it.
- Once you’ve got a nice amount of colour going on, throw in the mascarpone and your roasted veggies and just a little bit (maybe a couple tablespoons) of the pasta water.
- You want to cook until the mascarpone has melted and loosened, no longer. Then take it off the heat and add the drained pasta once its done. Et voila.
Serve it to yourself, enjoy it, pat yourself on the back, you did a great job.
Twitter // Instagram // Facebook // Bloglovin’ // Vine
This sounds amazingly good!! Never heard of mascarpone in pasta, but I’d love to try it. And I am so excited. I lve eggplants and roasted red peppers. Yum! 😀 Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Yay thanks Jhuls this was an awesome comment to read x
My pleasure. 🙂 It’s lovely to meet you and looking forward to following your blog. Have a fab week.
You legend! You too.
I made this last night and anyone and everyone must try it, it’s superb!
It has such a great taste combo that leaves you wanting more more more.
The Mascarpone added that extra hit of creaminess that I was after in a spaghetti sauce. Top marks for me and such an easy recipe to follow 🙂
Thanks Worrell!!
This makes me so hungry.
That’s what I aim for!
Don’t judge me if I completely take out aubergines from your recipe. I am willing to try but boyf is not, deep rooted aubergine fear there. So I’m upping the peppers and maybe going with mushroom…
Go for it! Just make sure the peppers are rrreeeeal soft and sweet and fully roasted, add in whatever you fancy x
MMMMM. Sweet lord this looks good x
This looks absolutely delicious!! I’m definitely going to try it 🙂 x
http://flymetotheclouds.com
Awesome, thanks Lara. Be sure to let me know how it goes, it’s been really popular so far! x
I will – can’t wait to try it 🙂 x
I must say I am not a big fan of Aubergines, but this pasta dish looks very inviting! Mariana