When I lived in London my life was, as you can imagine, very different from life Up The Mountain. For a start I had a Proper Grown Up Job. And I travelled a lot, sometimes spending weeks living out of a suitcase or briefly stopping at home for a pit stop to repack the case. At times like this my best friends were the local take away menus. Luckily, I lived in an area that boasted an amazing amount of pretty good quality restaurants who could get something tasty to my doorstep within about 30 minutes of me placing a call.
When I moved to Spain, it took me a while to adjust to the fact that when I didn´t feel all that much like cooking it was either Big Man´s special fried eggs, or jamon, cheese and melon to eat. The nearest take aways or delivery services are, I imagine, in a town a 45 minute drive away.
Finally I realised that I could still have something tasty to eat in about the same amount of time as it would have taken me to decide what to order from the take away menu, make the call and wait for the delivery guy to show up.
This is one of my speedy suppers. In the time it takes for a large pot of water to come to the boil and the pasta to cook, I have a delicious sauce made to serve with my favourite pasta, plenty of grated parmesan and I even get to swig a glass of wine while it´s cooking. Well, I need a dash of wine for the sauce.
Per person you need half an aubergine finely diced, two cloves of crushed garlic, two medium tomatoes peeled and chopped, a large slug of wine, a tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs (I used a mixture of parsley and basil), seasoning and olive oil. I also use a crushed dried chili as I like my sauce spicy, but this is up to you.
Put the pot of water on to boil and sauté the aubergine until brown. Now add the garlic and once it is softened add the tomato and seasoning and the chili if using. Let the tomato cook down a little by which time you will probably be ready to put the pasta into the pot. Add your wine and herbs to the sauce and let it bubble away gently until the pasta is cooked and ready to be drained. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
The sauce is a little like the one used in Pasta alla Norma (ChgoJohn has a fine example of it here and Linda at Savouring Every Bite here). These recipes give you a deeper tasting, richer sauce as it´s cooked for longer. Yum!
Now all you need to do is mix the sauce into the pasta, grate or shave over plenty of your favourite cheese, pour another glass of wine and think about how you are putting the fast food delivery services out of business.
Chica Andaluza 
Mmmm Good!
Merci!
I love sauces like this one – fantastically simple, yet delicious. I remember suffering a similar takeaway “withdrawal” when we moved here. Funnily enough, I recently had a takeaway in London which made me wish that I was eating a simple pasta with sauce such as the one that you describe!.
It´s so true – when I eat takeaway now in London it doesn´t give me as much pleasure as I had expected!
Aubergine is like (or IS) eggplant right? I think that’s what we called it in my island too. This dish looks utterly amazing! Simple and delicious. What’s not to love?
Have a fantastic day!
Yes, sometimes I forget to put both words…Eggplant and Aubergine are the same thing! Glad you liked it and have a great day too 🙂
That’s an excellent antidote to all the Christmas food 😉
I just needed a change and something that didn´t involve 3 days in the kitchen!
Delicious! And this is the sort of stand-by I’ve made during the 25 years or so that I’ve been living out of take-away range….and much better than take-away food too! We use a jar of our own preserved tomatoes because we don’t buy fresh ones in winter, and this even makes the sauce taste as though it’s been cooked for longer! Your glass of wine while cooking is a great idea too!
You are very good not to buy vegetables out of season – we buy less but sometimes I can´t resist. I use my bottled tomatoes from the summer though in sauces like this which are great. And I think the glass of wine while cooking is a legal requirement isn´t it?!
Tanya, Your photo looks like it is the front page of a magazine. Delicious to look at and tasty sounding.
Oooh – high praise indeed, especially as I am not very good with the camera! It´s a tasty, speedy dish.
Love a simple pasta like this, so free-wheeling and delicious, a handful of this, a pinch of that, a glug or two of vino, voila a perfect plate! My own Big Man would love this and I need to fix it for him soon. Thanks!
The best things often turn out that way because we “make do and mend”! Glad you liked it…
I bet you had quite an adjustment to make when you moved to the mountain top. Sounds to me like you’ve not only adjusted but you’re thriving! Thank you for the shout-out and your pasta will definitely make an appearance on my table. It is exactly the kind of pasta I usually make for myself.
It was hard at first – apart from family and friends it´s certain foods that you miss! Glad you liked the recipe – loved yours too!
I love how everyone has a different word for the amount of wine they use in a dish… mine is glug 🙂 Great idea for a quick and tasty dinner!
It´s true – but sometimes I slug as well as glug!
Just a point of correction, I need two slugs of wine and a glug and a carafe.
You forgot the “little schluck” of wine too!
I worry about how much on the same wavelength we are! The week before Christmas The Husband ate “vegetarian food” 5 nights on the trot and only at the end of it realised what had happened! When food is this delicious (and I will be making this for him soon) who needs meat!
I hasten to add that we are avid carnivores but don’t feel the need to have meat at every meal.
He does draw the line at tofu!
That´s us too! We eat lots of pulses in thick soups here – sometimes they have meat in but others times just veggies and Big Man often doesn´t realise we´ve had a few veggie days! Having said that I´m with you on the tofu and I do like my steak so rare it´s almost still breathing 😉
I love reading about other people’s quick and easy recipes, we’ve just made one of ours, spaghetti with some salmon, capers and dill. A bit of a treat, but very quick and easy to make, I’m sure the aubergines were delicious!
Now that sounds like a good one! It was unusual that I actually managed to take a snap of this as, generally, I want to eat it quickly if I´m in a hurry – you´ll have to take a snap of one of yours to share it too 🙂
Simple, quick and delicious…I do enjoy meals like this, especially with a few glasses of wine. 😉
Perfect – and there is always time to linger a little over the wine isn´t there?!
Indian takeaways though.. I miss my London indian takeaway, delivery man, i mean food.. i shall stash this recipe away until the summer when I can get these ingredients.. veges are very sad in the shops out here in the winter! And now I know about the SLUG of wine! well all good! love celi
Oh me too – the lovely little delivery man AND the food! I lived in South London in Curry Heaven 😉
I am all for speedy meals and plan to try the aubergine pasta tonight! Thanks. May pass on the pasta and just eat the veggies. Too many carbs during the holidays.
Ooh good idea – would be lovely just on its own. Hope you enjoy it!
Nothing more satisfying that a quick and flavourful meal like this Tanya – delicious!
I always have to add just that extra little bit of wine after the slug – just in case it wasn’t a big enough slug to start off with.
🙂 Mandy
Absolutely – I´m glad we all agree on this!