Provencal Tomato Sauce with Pasta

Pasta is the ultimate comfort food for me. And having spent so long in Italy, I like to think I can whip up some pretty special pastas when the need arises. Sadly, eating pasta every day is not very diet friendly. In order to still allow myself some of the joys of pasta while watching my calorie intake, I like to follow Mark Bittman's advice  - more sauce & less pasta. It is so easy to whip up a tomato based sauce, load in some veggies, and pile it on.....and all the while keep things vegan of course. :)

Provencal Tomato Sauce with Pasta

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant, cut into large cubes

Salt

3 tablespoons of olive oil

Black Pepper

2 small zucchini

1 small onion, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 can chopped tomatoes, juices drained

1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence

8 oz pasta

Fresh basil, for garnish

Vegan Parmesan

 

Directions:

Sprinkle eggplant liberally with salt, let rest in colander for 20 minutes, rinse, pat dry. Bring large pot of water to a boil and salt it.

Put 1.5 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, add the eggplant, sprinkle with pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, about 6 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.

Put the remaining oil in the pan and add the zucchini, sprinkling with salt and pepper. Cooke, stirring occasionally, until its tender, 7 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, another 3 minutes or so. Add the tomatoes, herbs de provence, and cook until the tomatoes start to release their juice. Return the eggplant to the pan, stir, and turn off the heat.

Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserve some cooking liquid in case the sauce is too thick. Serve with torn basil and vegan Parmesan.