The Meat Eater looked at his plate and said ‘this looks suspiciously vegan’. Huh? It was covered with cheese and not the slightest bit vegan. The boy is paranoid.
It’s a recipe adapted from Rose Elliot’s New Complete Vegetarian. The only bit I adapted was where she uses wholemeal auelli; I used non-wholemeal pasta (as I get moaned at if I use wholemeal despite the taste and texture being identical) and spirals, not auelli (as I haven’t a clue what auelli looks like and anyway, I had spirals in the cupboard).
Also, I didn’t fry the aubergine slices as that’s too fiddly and takes too long. Instead, I brushed some oil over them and roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Oh, and I used a large can of tomatoes, not 225g.
I didn’t use an egg, either.
And I only used one onion, not two.
Okay, I adapted it quite a lot.
Pasta and aubergine bake (serves 4)
(Adapted from Rose Elliot’s New Complete Vegetarian)
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing
450g aubergine
75g pasta shapes
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp dried oregano
50g fresh breadcrumbs
50g cheddar cheese, grated
- Fry the onions in 1 tbsp olive oil for about 10 minutes.
- Slice the aubergine into thin rounds, brush with oil and bake in the oven at 200C for about 20 minutes, until tender.
- Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet and drain.
- Mix the pasta, tomatoes, ketchup and oregano with the onions and season with salt and pepper.
- Put the aubergine slices in the base of a greased shallow ovenproof dish. Spoon the pasta mixture on top, cover with the rest of the aubergine slices and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and grated cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.