Aubergine and Sage Spaghetti Marinara

Laura Hemmington

This is the perfect bowl of pasta if you’re looking for rich, earthy flavours and delicious wholesome ingredients. The aubergines and mushrooms soak up the tasty flavours of the spicy marinara, topped with tangy sun dried tomato pesto.

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Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil
1 aubergine (eggplant)
100g wild mushrooms (or other variety e.g. chestnut)
6 cloves garlic
10 fresh sage leaves
150g wholewheat or spelt spaghetti plus water for cooking
1 jar / 500ml Spicy Marinara Sauce (recipe link under preparation)
2 tbsp Pumpkin Seed and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto (recipe link under preparation)
Optional: fresh basil leaves to garnish

Preparation

Please click for Marinara Sauce recipe Please click for Pumpkin Seed and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto recipe

Method

On a medium to high heat, warm 1 tsp of the olive oil in a large, non-stick pan. Slice the mushrooms and the garlic and add these to the pan.
While the mushrooms and garlic are sautéing, chop the aubergine into cubes no larger than 1cm. Add the second tsp of oil and the aubergine cubes to the pan and give it a good stir.
Cook for about 10 minutes, until the aubergine cubes are lightly browned and soft. Roughly chop the sage leaves and add these too.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the spaghetti.
You can now stir the marinara sauce into the pan with the aubergines and lower the heat, so it can bubble away while the spaghetti cooks.
Around 5 minutes before the pasta is ready spoon some of the pasta cooking water into the sauce until you have a consistency you’re happy with. The aubergines suck up a lot of the sauce, so this helps to loosen it all up again.
Once the spaghetti is ready drain it and add it to the sauce. Give it all a nice stir and spoon into bowls. To serve, dot the pesto around the bowl and sprinkle on some fresh basil.