This is another pasta quickie. Most of them are. Rachel, a friend who lives in Italy, put me on to the idea of making accompaniments to pasta which don't take any longer to cook than the pasta itself. Makes sense doesn't it?
This one is a beauty. It's a fairly standard Italian dish except that the seasoning is a bit special - or maybe they use coriander in Italy? I don't know. Here it is anyway. Try it - I guarantee you'll be impressed.
180-200g of pasta (enough for 2 people)
1 large aubergine
1 large tomato
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. whole coriander seeds
Olive oil Salt
Put a pan of water on to boil for the pasta. Chop the tomato roughly and the aubergine into 2 cm cubes. Put some olive oil into a frying pan. As soon as the water boils switch on the heat under the frying pan, then throw the pasta into the water with some salt and a splash of olive oil and give it a stir. When the pot comes back to the boil you can turn the heat down to medium. Crush the cloves of garlic, skin and all, with the flat of a knife and give it a rough chop. The oil should be nice and hot so chuck the coriander seeds and then the garlic in and give them a sizzle. When the garlic is starting to brown, add the tomatoes and stir to bring down the temperature, then add the aubergines and stir till they're coated in the sauce. Put a lid tightly on the frying pan and turn the heat down a little - the aubergines will be ready when the pasta is (about 12 minutes after it starts to boil).