Category Archives: Pasta

Pasta With Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Sauce

Pasta With Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Sauce
Pasta With Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Sauce

Hey there! 

It’s me again 🙂

Pasta With Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Sauce  from gingerlemonandspice.com

We’re planning a big grilling party today with friends! So I’m a bit out of the normal 😉 Usually I am all for planning big and complex, but this started out as just a wish to turn on the grill… I talked to one of the girls I am living with and we decided we wanted to grill since it’s summer and all. Well, needless to say I was all in! I thought yeah, let’s do this as we don’t do it often in the ‘big’ city. We only have a very small backyard.

At my parents we have a big backyard and in summer time we kind of live outside. We grill nearly everyday and it usually goes without planning! When my relatives that live next to us want to do it too, they just come over with their stuff or we go to their house and then we just have a good time. It is all very SIMPLE! The basic ingredients for salads and the stuff that will be grilled we usually have at home or we create something out of the things we have.

Pasta With Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Sauce  from gingerlemonandspice.com

But this thing here in the city with my flat-mates – it got kind of out of hand 😉 It is all very planned out, like a week planned ahead, who brings what so that there won’t be two kinds of pasta salad or something else that ‘horrible’. 😉 We   even hat to delay the party for a week! There are some friends coming too. All this exact planning leaded to me being a wee bit stressed out… At some point I was quite annoyed that it wasn’t the easy thing I was used to!

I feel quite sorry for that now! I know it will be an awesome evening and we will have lots of fun! I guess everybody plans very different and I have to learn to tame myself and be more tolerant! 😉 I just look back on all this with a big smile now.  Can you relate to that? Do you have sometimes feelings you’re not proud of? 😉

Pasta With Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Sauce  from gingerlemonandspice.com

The recipe I have for you today is my newest invention: Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Pasta! I dreamed it up after watching Donal Skehan’s newest episode on Jamie Olivers Foodtube. He was cooking Smashed Tomato Pasta and used the word ‘mushy’ a lot 😉 Watch the video! He really is a great cook and he explains the way that you feel that everybody can do it! And his accent really is the best! So very irish 🙂 Read here why I love Ireland!

Well, I had an aubergine in the fridge to use up. So I started cooking a quick meal and while I went on stiring and stiring I was singing ‘mushy, mushy, mushy’ in my head. 😉 I think the video really got to me! At first I didn’t really plan to take pictures and put the recipe on the blog, but it tasted soo awesome and flavorful, that I just had to take the minute to shoot some pictures!! I don’t like aubergines very much usually. Only since last year when I stayed in Turkey I realized that aubergines really CAN taste great! In this recipe the flavor comes out beautifully, you will love it!

Just give it a try 🙂 Enough talk, on to the recipe we go!

 

Pasta With Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Sauce
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A very tasty and comforting pasta dish made in the time the pasta needs to cook! Tastes like summer because of a secret ingredient!
Author:
Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: mediterranean style
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 250g spaghetti
  • 1 big aubergine (eggplant)
  • 3 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 Bratwurst - optional
  • 3 tomatoes
  • lime juice of 2 limes
  • freshly ground pepper
  • some parmesan if you like
Instructions
  1. Fill your kettle with water and turn it on. If you don't have a kettle heat a pot big enough for the pasta with water on the stove.
  2. Meanwhile preheat a non stick pan to high heat. Chop your aubergine in cubes with sides about one centimetre of length. Put them in the pan and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and stir until the salt is distributed. Let the aubergine roast (without oil!) and stir often. There will be a bit of a coat on the bottom of the pan - just stir it loose. We want this, it is full of flavor! Just don't let it go black 😉
  3. When the water kettle is finished just pour the water into a pot on the stove and reheat on high heat until it boils. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and the pasta and set your timer on the time it says on the box of the pasta. Turn the heat down to low-medium.
  4. Now you can add the bratwurst (cut into thin slices) if you have it and add the olive oil. mix well. The aubergine should now start to soften up!
  5. Chop your tomatoes roughly in cubes and don't forget to stir your aubergine once in a while.
  6. Add the tomatoes to the pan when you have about 5 minutes left on your timer. You want the aubergine and tomato mixture to get really mushy!!
  7. Just before pasta is cooked, add pepper and lime juice to the pan. Turn the heat off. You don't need to drain the pasta, just put the pot and pan close together, take a pasta fork and fish the pasta out of the pot, let it drain a little and put it directly into the pan. We want a little pasta water to get into the pan!
  8. Now mix it all together well and serve directly. Sprinkle parmesan on top if you like! Dig in 🙂

Pasta With Mushy Aubergine & Tomato Sauce  from gingerlemonandspice.com 

Have a great day!

~ Kathrin

Tagliatelle with Tomatoes, Ham & Mushrooms

Tagliatelle with Tomatoes, Ham & Mushrooms
Tagliatelle with Tomatoes, Ham & Mushrooms

Hello everybody!

Tagliatelle with tomatoes, ham & mushrooms

I hope your last week was nice? Nicer than mine, at least? 😉 I had to study, study, study, sleep a little and then again study,… You might have guest it: It was the week of my exams at university! I don’t like this time at all… But it is necessary.

So yesterday was my final exam for this period, and now I am FREE!! I can do whatever I like!! At least for a few days…

 

Also I had written a ‘what to do after the final exam’ list – which included watering the plants, hoover and clean and of course, write a new blogpost. As you might have noticed, this was not what happend! 😉

So when I finally went home yesterday what I did was starting a movie. I really love movies!! No special kind – I just like digging in another reality for a few hours! Of course there are good movies and bad movies for me too, but I would watch all of them – and the good ones more than once.

When I came home yesterday I felt the need to disengage myself from all the stress of the days before and watch a film. Not any kind of film! I wanted romance, I wanted the feeling of an idyllic world and a little bit of action so I turned on Twilight. Don’t judge me!! 😉

I haven’t seen the movies for quite some time now! And last time I did, I thought they were embarrissing because they are such a tear jerker (I hope that word exist – that’s what my translater tells me! ). So this time, to make them less awkward for me I watched them in english. It helped a lot! I really think you could say anything in english even if it is way too much in german. I actually did enjoy them so much that I watched part 2 and 3 right after the first and went to bed at 1 o’clock…

Yes – I don’t know what was going on with me either 😉

So today is the day for the list – all the stuff that needs to be done and was postponed because of the exams! It includes preparing for the studying period for the exams in april  but I decided to do the ‘fun’ parts first. Here I am, writing just what comes through my mind and hoping you don’t think I am too awkward, strange or crazy 😉

 

But I have brought you something, too!!! As my meals needed to be quick I didn’t do much cooking in the last two weeks. But one thing I did was these Tagliatelle with frehs tomatoes, ham and mushrooms! It was a really quick lunch and very delicious!

 

Tagliatelle with Tomatoes, Ham & Mushrooms

for one person

Tagliatelle with tomatoes, ham & mushrooms

Tagliatelle with tomatoes, ham & mushrooms

Tagliatelle with tomatoes, ham & mushroomsTagliatelle with tomatoes, ham & mushrooms

 

Ingredients:

Tagliatelle for one person (I used wholemeal – approx. 100g)

100g mushrooms

100g ham

3 big tomatoes

75 ml cream

salt, pepper, parsley for decoration (I used frozen)

 

Directions:

1. Cook Pasta according to package.

2. Put a nonstick frying pan on medium heat. Chop the mushrooms in half slices, ham in stripes and tomatoes in cubes – or the way you like them.

3. Put mushrooms and ham into the pan, and let the mushrooms loose some water (5 min maybe). Add the tomatoes on top, let them sit on top for 2 min then stir. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. The Pasta should be ready now. Put the pasta into the pan using a pasta scoop with holes in it to get rid of most of the cooking water. Add the cream to the pan. Stir everything and let the sauce and pasta reheat until it bubbles (2-3 min). Maybe add some more salt (the cream takes away some of the saltiness).

5. Put Tagliatelle on a nice platter and sprinkle with some parsley.

Enjoy!!

~Kathrin

Tagliatelle with tomatoes, ham & mushrooms

Speedy Shrimp Pasta

Speedy Shrimp Pasta
Speedy Shrimp Pasta

Good evening out there!

This weekend I was all alone in the flat by myself, so I took the chance to make a very big mess in the kitchen over and over again 😉

I should be studying as my exams are getting closer and closer and I have really difficult ones to pass this semester – but I just couldn’t let the chance go by!

During all the testing, picture taking and recipe studying I was getting hungry. I was stumbling on a recipe of a blog I am reading: Speedy Sauteed Shrimp & Pasta from dinners, dishes and desserts.

IMG_9381-1_Kopie

It had pasta, shrimps and sun-dried tomatoes, which especially of the last I am a big fan at the moment. I usually eat them plain or with cheese  but I was already wondering what else I could do with them! On top of it all the package I have right now is very special to me, as it says the tomatoes are from Izmir region in Turkey!! That was where I stayed last summer – and we also went on the fields, ate fresh tomatoes and saw the people laying out the tomatoes in the sun to dry. You see – I had no chance but to make something special with them!

This and that I had already pre-cooked shrimps in the fridge that needed using made this a no brainer for me. Shrimp pasta it was!

Of course I had to give the recipe some twists, as I didn’t have everything on hand. But it was very delicious!!

 

Speedy Shrimp Pasta

adapted from dinners, dishes and desserts (see for exact messurements, I just did it roughly for one person)

Speedy Shrimp Pasta

Speedy Shrimp Pasta

Speedy Shrimp Pasta

Speedy Shrimp Pasta

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredientes:

spaghetti for one person

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 piece of onion

1 piece of garlic

a few red chili flakes

about 7 shrimps (I had precooked ones, but fresh or frozen ones would work to – just cook them through)

about 3 sun-dried tomatoes

juice of 1/2 lemon

parsley (I used frozen), salt, pepper

parmesan to taste

 

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta according to directions on box.

2. Meanwhile heat a large skillet on medium heat and put the oil inside. Chopp onions and put inside. Saute for a little bit, then crush garlic in a garlic crusher and add with chili flakes  to the onions.

3. Put shrimps into the skillet and after 2 minutes add the chopped dried tomatoes and lemon juice.

4. Season with parsley, salt and pepper.

5. Put the cooked spaghetti in the skillet and mix well with shrimp mixture. If you want you can drizzle with additional olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan.

6. Enjoy preferably with a glass of white wine!

Speedy Shrimp Pasta

~ Kathrin