8 May '17

Claudia’s Healthy Summer Sicilian Pasta

By Claudia’s Life Recipes – https://claudiasliferecipes.wordpress.com

Courtesy: Damiano Tescaro

Aubergines and tuna are the highlights of the show here.

Aubergines are a great love of all Mediterranean people, and Italians nonetheless.

Most of the most famous Southern Italian dishes I grew up with will contain this delicious ingredient.

This is a less notorious dish compared to lasagne or meatballs, but it is definitely as tasty and… healthier!

Fish is nutritious but less fatty than meat hence keeping the dish light and healthy.

What better way to celebrate the arrival of summer?

Ingredients (Serves 4)

360g pasta (penne or rigatoni)
200g fresh tuna
250g aubergines
20g – you can choose from: almonds, kernels or pistachios – according to your taste. Or go wild and just use them all. They give a beautiful crunch.
2g garlic cloves
A handful of basil leaves
10 cherry tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse table salt

Method

Rinse the tuna under cold water and cut it into small cubes. In a wide pan, heat up a tablespoon of olive oil and stir-fry the tuna on high heat for just few minutes. Remove the fish from the pan and leave to rest.
Wash the aubergine, cut it into small cubes and add it in the same pan with abundant olive oil and the garlic cloves. Cook for 15/20 minutes on low/medium heat till very tender. Mix and turn often so that the aubergine does not stick to the pan.
Meanwhile, cut the cherry tomatoes in four pieces and leave to one side.
Cook the pasta in a pot with a lot of salted water (use coarse salt to salt the water): bring the water to boil first, then add the pasta. Meanwhile, add the cooked aubergines, garlic, almonds (or kernels/pistachios) and the basil into a blender. Adjust with a pinch of table salt. Blend till the mix becomes a cream. If you want it even creamier, add 1/3 of a glass of water from the water you are using to cook the pasta, though be careful not to add too much table salt to the mix. Better to mix first and then taste and decide.
Drain the pasta. Add everything back to the wide pan for just a couple of minutes: pasta, blended aubergines, tuna and cherry tomatoes. Stir well until everything comes together.
Decorate with a couple of basil leaves and serve.

Extras

You do not have to blend the aubergines. In this recipe, the pasta is basically prepared with a “pesto” of aubergines to make the dish creamier.

However, if you like to give texture to your dishes, you can leave the aubergines as they are once you cooked them.

Simply, once the pasta is cooked, mix the tuna, aubergines, tomatoes, basil and grounded almonds together.

Courtesy: Damiano Tescaro

Claudia is a Food Manager with a great passion for cooking and dining out.

As a young professional, she is very much embedded in London City and trying to pursue a genuine love for good food and good times

She shares her culinary experiences on her blog: https://claudiasliferecipes.wordpress.com where she aims at exploring the deep connection between food and human emotions.

Notwithstanding her Italian origins, she is also a Persian food fanatic.

Follow her updates and new posts on:

If you have any recipes you want published, Contact Us now. We’d love to hear from you!