Monday, October 25, 2010

MEDITERRANEAN STYLE - FUSILLI WITH SAUSAGE CHUNKS & EGGPLANT

“The inspired me”…..I was watching an Italian dish- eggplants in penne pasta on tv yesterday when the cook in me suddenly woke up and struck the bell. “Ding, Dong!” I ran into the kitchen with my new found idea dwindling in my mind. The result, u got to try it to believe it. Pasta with tahini, eggplant and sausage chunks!! That’s not all. It’s garnished with fresh pomegranate seeds. Can’t explain the taste when all those stuff is tossed together. I wasn’t expecting such an awesome flavour but it couldn’t get better! This is “the one signature dish” from Mj’s kitchen. Mom said “Once more”, so it has to be hell too good!

 If I had the ingredients, I would have made kebabs instead of using sausages but Alas! Not all wishes come true J…I have used the large purplish black eggplants. I removed the skin before cooking but you can keep it if u like. Please do not wash the eggplants after dicing them, i promise you, it will ruin everything! Eggplants get soggy when you wash them after cutting and lets out water when you cook it, gets all mushy and sloppy. Here, we wana keep them firm and crunchy.
Ingredients: (serves 4)

Pasta – 2 cups
Egg plants - 1 large peeled and diced
Sausage – 8
Bell pepper/ capsicum- ½ chopped without seeds
Fresh pomegranate – seeds from 1 whole
Garlic - 8 cloves crushed
Tahina/tahini (white sesame seeds paste) - 3 tablespoons
Lime juice – 2 tablespoon
Yogurt – 3 tablespoon
Olive Oil- 3 tablespoon
Parsley leaves – 2 sprigs chopped
Salt to taste

Method:
1.       Boil sausages till fully cooked. Cut into chunks and keep aside.
2.       Boil pasta till almost done, drain and keep aside. Don’t over cook them.
3.       Heat 2 tablespoon olive oil in a pan (large enough to toss the pasta). Cook garlic only till raw smell is off.
4.       Add eggplant pieces and sauté. Cook with lid on till eggplant is almost done.
5.       Now add sausage chunks and sauté on high flame till it starts getting slightly charred. Add bell pepper.
6.       Reduce flame and add the pasta.
7.       Add tahini. Mix well.
8.       Next add yogurt. Again mix well.
9.       Last add lime juice and mix well.(I know so many “mix well” but those are most important steps)
10.   Remove from flame. Transfer to serving dish. Then add pomegranate seeds.
11.   Garnish with olive oil and chopped parsley. Serve. There is absolutely no need for accompanimentsJ.

16 comments:

  1. That looks so amazing! Love the close up shots.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That really is a unique dish that looks like it would be amazing. But then again, you're using ingredients that speak to my Mediterranean heart. you could stuff that in a pita pocket instead of on pasta and have an amazing sandwich to go!

    ReplyDelete
  3. looks good! never tried eggplant with pasta- definitely on the list to try!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanx guys for ur lovely comments!
    @MomChef: Yea, on pita bread wud be nice too but pasta was a total hit. u shud try it out =)

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks so good, it's such a wonderful combination of flavours!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful pasta dish...amazing photos :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This sounds like such a lovely combination of flavors! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yum! Thanks for the recipe. I'm a fan of eggplant and sausages!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the pics. The blend of all of the unique
    flavors make for a very good dish. I especially like the pomegranates.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i like :)
    deliciuos !

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is my favorite one....

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yum! I love making Mediterrean dishes and this looks like a keeper!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow...I love the flavor combination. Very unusual and tasty.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking time out to encourage me! Every comment is heartfully read and loved! Please stop by again and again and again.....!!!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...