Pasta Pronto

We are in the middle of winter in New Zealand and oddly enough fresh aubergines were on supermarket shelves today. I had a thought when I walked past these, to grill them and toss it in pasta for a nice variation and not to mention to match the name of this blog. It has been years since the start of Jamie Oliver TV shows in which he used to show how quickly he could cook weeknight dinners and invite his friends over to tuck in.

I am no Jamie Oliver, but I do know one or two things about quick dinners and that is multi tasking. Chop onions and garlic, then a generous dash of olive oil and let the high heat of a gas stove do the trick. At this stage, I added some dried oregano and chopped capsicum. Let it cook for a bit longer until the capsicum is soft enough. Add some Spanish olives, a can of chopped and peeled tomatoes, a dash of boiled water from the kettle, sea salt and cracked pepper and the lid goes on and reduce heat. While the sauce is simmering, slice an aubergine to 1-2cm thick, brush with olive oil, sprinkle of salt and pepper and dried oregano and place under a hot grill (220C). Grilling aubergine slices or eggplants takes few minutes on each side. Once done add to simmering sauce and boil the kettle. Boil pasta and by now your sauce has reduced enough. Add the pasta to sauce, stir and serve. All of this for a mere 30 minutes.