Skip to main content

Orecchiette with chili white eggplants


The eggplants come from my aunt veggie garden, and they really look like eggs! The chili is from a pot on my mum's kitchen window. Even if these days I am not eating from my own garden I am taking advantage of theirs.


Put the chili and garlic in a pan with olive oil, fry for a few minutes and then add the eggplants, cubed. Stir often until the eggplants start to colour. Add a little water and salt and cover with a lid. Stew the eggplants, stirring often and adding water if necessary, until they are soft. At the end add half a cup of chopped parsley, a little olive oil and, if you like, some more chopped garlic and even chopped chili (but only if you like it super spicy!). Cook and drain the orecchiette pasta and then dress with the eggplants. Delicious!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©


Labels:

Comments

  1. Sharon RuddAugust 16, 2010 at 10:11 AM

    Allesandra, this orchiette looks like a superb but simple dish to prepare. I haven't cooked with white eggplant but am wondering if the flesh inside manages to maintain its light color rather than turning brown the way purple eggplant does. Or do you have some other secret? Thanks much for stopping by my blog. I will be following you as well. Delighted to have inspiration from my new international friends!

    eggy

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlessandraAugust 16, 2010 at 7:21 PM

    Ciao Eggy,

    White eggplants also become brown when cooking (or at least, cooked like in this recipe!), but a bit lighter in colour than the purple ones. Yesterday I went to the country to see my aunt and I got some more, white and purple, I'll let you know if I see a difference in cooking them :-)

    Than you for stopping by

    Alessandra

    ReplyDelete
  3. FaithAugust 17, 2010 at 10:51 AM

    I've never had white eggplants! They're beautiful and I bet this is a very tasty dish!

    ReplyDelete
  4. aipiAugust 17, 2010 at 11:09 AM

    Thanks for stopping by my site. Glad you liked the paneer dish. My husband loves eggplant... have never had white ones though (they do really look like eggs)... just saw them the other day at the local farmer's market... we also love pasta and this dish looks simple and great... will definitely give it a shot sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  5. RachanaAugust 17, 2010 at 11:09 AM

    Simple yet so delicious! I am a big fan of eggplants and this looks fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AlessandraAugust 18, 2010 at 12:52 AM

    Thank you al for your comments, Aipi, guess what, I could even stuck paneer in this one too!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. shahanaAugust 18, 2010 at 1:14 PM

    This recipe is new tome.Sounhds really delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  8. yariAugust 19, 2010 at 7:42 AM

    White eggplants... Astonishing, never seen them before! Is it a particular, local variety?

    ReplyDelete
  9. AlessandraAugust 19, 2010 at 8:13 AM

    Not sure Yari, I have seen them in NZ, and here in Italy my aunt has been growing them for a few years now... they look pretty eh?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to make Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum), and Sweet New Zealand

Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum) Before I start I would like to say that I don't have a sugar thermometer, essential if you are really into confectionery, and that I didn't use much sugar for these Turkish delights. Many recipes use much more sugar, and it is not that I wanted to make a low sugar treat here (it is still pretty sweet), it is just that making it at home really makes me realize how much sugar there is already in my diet, and if I can have something with a little less... well, why not! This method is 'home friendly' i.e. these can be made at home with very little effort and equipment, and the recipe comes from my book  Sweet As...  where I also have the recipe for lavender and orange blossom Turkish Delights. Ingredients 1 l water 300 g sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice 100 g cornflour 1 tbsp frozen raspberries 1 tbsp rose water icing sugar (very little) and cornflour (lots) to dust. In a pot put hal...
9 comments
Read more

Silver beet Paneer, a variation of Palak Paneer

The other day I showed you my curry made with borage , ‘invented’ because I have tons of it in the garden! The other green-leaf crop that does well in Auckland is silver beet. My old plants (from last year!) got so tall that I started collecting only the little leaves from the stalks, and they look like spinach. One of my favourite Indian dishes is Palak Paneer (or Panir), spinach with panir cottage cheese, and this variation is made using my silver beet. I washed (many times!) the small silver beet leaves, and then I steamed them and drain them. In a heavy pot I heated 2 tbsp of vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil) and sautéed for 30 seconds: 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp turmeric 1/3 tsp ground chili then I added 2 roughly chopped shallots and, after 3 minutes, a good pinch of salt and the cooked silver beet. I cooked everything on low for about 20 minutes (you may need to add just a little water if the silver beet is too dry) and then finely pureed the content ...
5 comments
Read more

Home Made Marzipan Sweets

This is another recipe from my book Sweet As , and something that I love to make for Xmas. I would like to say that for marzipan you should get the best almonds around, natural, but here in New Zealand the almonds taste different from the ones in Italy. They are imported, not sure where from most of the time, but they are not top grade almonds. Still, with a few tips, you can make your marzipan taste great even with 'regular' almonds! Buy them natural, not blanched, you need to blanche then yourself or the result will be too dry. To blanch them you need to put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then add cold water and take the skin off, one by one. For this recipe you will need: 200 g almonds 100 g icing sugar 5 apricot kernels. As I was saying before, the almond here have little taste, so I like to collect the stones from apricot and get the almonds out. They are a real pain to crack! In the photo above you can see apricot stones and kernels. The apricot kernel...
13 comments
Read more