I am a big fan of Italian flavours and I believe that there is nothing better than an easy pasta dish for a light, weekday dinner. I often browse recipes on the website of “Forks over Knives”, where I have recently come across this pasta dish. When I prepared it for the first time, it was an instant hit for us. It has fresh, spring-like qualities and it is an incredibly well-balanced dish, in my view. The vegetables just work perfectly well in its sauce and the dish is simply very delicious.

When I looked at the recipe more closely, I discovered that it was developed by Ella Woodward, the author of the popular food blog “Deliciously Ella”. She deserves full credit for this marvellous spaghetti. Nevertheless, I made some minor modifications to the original recipe due to the fact that some ingredients are not always available in the area where I live.

Mediterranean Vegetable Spaghetti from www.deliciouslyella.com
http://deliciouslyella.com/
Let’s see how to make this marvellous mediterranean spaghetti with my minor changes.

Ingredients:

  • 1 packet of durum pasta
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into small pieces
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into small pieces
  • 2 plum tomatoes, deseeded and sliced into eights (if plum tomatoes are not available, other types can be used)
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 large or 2 smaller aubergines, sliced into small rounds and then quarters (alternatively use 1 zucchini, as per the original recipe)
  • 1 bunch of spinach
  • Handful of olives (use deseeded and sliced ones if possible)
  • 12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • Salt according to taste
  • 2 tablespoons of Italian or French dried herbs
  • Pepper according to taste
  • 200 ml water

Preparation method:

  • Boil the pasta, according to packet instructions. Once it is ready, set aside.
  • Put the sliced aubergines in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and olive oil. Set aside.
  • Put the peppers, tomatoes, salt and dried herbs into a saucepan. Add the water to the saucepan and simmer the vegetables slowly. In case the vegetables start to brown, add more water and stir gently. Slowly cook for a few minutes.
  • Once the vegetables wilted, add the tomato purée and the juice of the lime.
  • Cook the vegetables for a few more minutes and let it slowly combine to form the sauce.
  • Once the sauce is ready, add the cherry tomatoes, aubergine slices (or zucchini slices) and the spinach leaves. Cook gently until the ingredients mix well.
  • Add the olives and additional dried herbs according to taste.
  • Combine the sauce with the pasta and mix well. Cook for a further a few minutes as the pasta will need to be heated.

Mediterranean Vegetable Spaghetti from www.myrecipes.com
www.myrecipes.com
 This pasta dish is perfect on its own. If you prefer, you may serve it with parmesan.

Bon appetite!