Harissa Aubergine Pasta

Name: Harissa Aubergine Pasta
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped; 1 tbsp Tomato Puree; 2.5 tbsp Rose Harissa Paste; 30g Basil, leaves torn; 3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil; 1 Red Onion, diced; 50g Toasted Pine Nuts; 400g Pasta; 1 Lemon, juice and zest; 30g Vegan Italian Style Hard Cheese; Maldon Salt, to taste; 2 Aubergine, cubed

10m prep time

35m total time

Easy level

12 ingredients

Aubergines are the ideal meaty vegetable to accompany pasta. They take on flavour, oil and spice like no other vegetable hence why the smoky harissa in this dish goes hand in hand with the aubergines. If you want to experiment with this dish, try roasting the aubergines whole in the oven until totally soft and collapsed before scooping out the soft flesh into harrisa and simmering away for a few minutes with all the other ingredients.

Method

Based on 4 servings, adjust as needed.

Step 1

Peel and chop the aubergine into small chunks and dice the red onion. Heat the olive oil in a large pan, once hot, add the onion and aubergine. Cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes until soft and golden. Meanwhile, chop the garlic.

Step 2

Boil the pasta in salted boiling water as per the instructions on the packet.

Step 3

Once the aubergine is lightly golden, turn down the heat and add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Stir in the tomato puree and harissa paste, continuing to cook on a low heat for 3-4 minutes.

Step 4

Add a ladle of pasta water to the sauce (don't do this is using GF pasta) and bring to a gentle simmer. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce. Toss everything together and season with salt and pepper. Finish with a big squeeze of lemon, some of the zest the torn basil and a scattering of pine nuts and vegan parmesan if you wish.