Friday Food: Eggplant and Crimini Mushroom Pasta with Olive Oil and Garlic Sauce

 

My Friday food recipe for this week is Crimini Mushroom Pasta with Olive Oil and Garlic Sauce.

Ingredients (makes enough for two adults)
6-8 Small Crimini Mushrooms, whole, rinsed
1 cup chopped eggplant, chopped into very small pieces (see separate post on How To Prepare Eggplant)


3 Minced Garlic Cloves
1/2 Tsp Marjoram
4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp water
Fully Cooked and Drained Spaghetti Noodles or other pasta

Mince the garlic and let it sit in the cold olive oil and butter in a medium sized frying pan, which you prepare the other things. Turn heat to medium, and saute the garlic a bit. Add marjoram, then the eggplant and mushrooms. Stir the eggplant in the oil and butter until the eggplant is thoroughly coated and/or all of the oil has been soaked up by the eggplant. Add the water and cover, turn heat to low. Stir every minute or so, then re-cover until the mushrooms are tender all the way through, and the eggplant is slightly brown and totally tender. If the oil and butter have not been re-leased back into the pan, add a little more oil so that your pasta will be coated. Don't worry, extra virgin olive oil is very good for you, and speeds up your metabolism. At this point, turn your heat back up to medium and add the amount of pasta you want. Stir the pasta to coat with the oil and mix the vegetables in with it; add salt and pepper now (or at the table). Let cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring to coat constantly, don't let the pasta stick onto the bottom of the pan.

Serve with salad and bread.