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A Case of the Lunchies: January Edition

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I think pasta makes great lunch leftovers (which I’ve said over and over again in many of my “Case of the Lunchies” Posts).  It heats up nicely, especially when it’s covered with sauce and veggies.  This pasta recipe is simple, and the sauce can be made beforehand to make dinner assembly on a busy weeknight more accessible to those of us with jam-packed Monday-Friday schedules.  And the leftovers for lunch?  Just as good as a fresh bowl the night you make it.

Gemelli with Eggplant, Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Ingredients

  • 3/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 2 plump fresh garlic cloves, minced
  • Sea Salt
  • 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice or crushed tomatoes in puree
  • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1 firm medium eggplant
  • 1 6 oz can (dry weight) black olives, sliced  (14 or 15 ounce size can)
  • 1 pound dried Italian tubular pasta, such as gemelli, ziti, fusilli, or penne
  • 2 cups cubed mozzarella

 Instructions

  1. In an unheated skillet large enough to hold the pasta later on, combine 1/8 cup olive oil, the onion, garlic and a pinch of salt, stirring to coat with the oil.  Cook over moderate heat just until the garlic turns golden, but does not brown, 2 to 3 minutes.  Add tomatoes and red pepper to pan.  Stir to blend, and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce begins to thicken, about 15 minutes.  (I simmered it longer and left the cover on most of the time.)
  2. While the sauce is simmering, cook the eggplant:  In a large deep skillet, heat the remaining ¼ up oil over moderately high heat.  When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the eggplant and cook until lightly colored, about 5 minutes.  (The eggplant will soak up the oil immediately, but allow it to cook without added oil, keeping the pan moving to avoid scorching.)  Season generously with salt.
  3. Add the eggplant and olives to the sauce and keep warm over very low heat.  (Neither the sauce nor the eggplant needs additional cooking, but the eggplant should have time to absorb some of the tomato sauce.)
  4. Meanwhile, in a large pot, cook the pasta “al dente.”  Drain thoroughly.
  5. Add the drained pasta to the skillet with the tomato sauce.  Toss to blend.  Cover and let rest off the heat for 1 to 2 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce.  Transfer the pasta to warmed shallow soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with the cubed mozzarella.  Serve immediately.

I made the sauce for the pasta on a Sunday afternoon.  I work 9-5 on Mondays and then I teach spin from 6:30-7:15pm, so I typically don’t get home until after 7:30pm.  I wanted to make dinner as easy as possible for myself on Monday night, and while the assembly for the sauce is easy and not terribly time consuming, I decided to plan ahead (big surprise) and get the tough part of the recipe out of the way the night before since I had the time.

First I cooked up the olive oil, garlic, onion, and salt.

Garlic and Onion

My eyes are SO SENSITIVE to onion.  I literally can’t get through dicing even half of an onion before I have to walk away, mascara running down my face because my eyes are watering and burning so much.  Any suggestions on how to avoid this?

Then I poured the tomatoes and the red pepper flakes into the pan.  I know that the recipe says to allow this to simmer for 15 minutes, but I usually try for 30-45 minutes.

Red Sauce

 

I also leave it covered for the majority of the time it is simmering, stirring occasionally.

While the sauce was simmering I diced up the eggplant into 0.5-1 inch cubes

Raw eggplant

 

I sprinkled the cubed raw eggplant w/ salt and allowed it to sit for a few minutes to allow the salt to absorb some of the moisture from the eggplant.  Then I sauteed the eggplant in the remaining olive oil.  Be sure to heat the olive oil in the pan before throwing the eggplant in.

Sauteed eggplant

 

After simmering the red sauce for 45 minutes I added the eggplant and sliced black olives into the sauce.  I also threw in some leftover quartered artichoke hearts that I had in the fridge.  I would highly recommend adding artichoke hearts to this recipe!  It makes the sauce even heartier.

Sauce finished

 

I let the sauce cool for a few hours, then put the whole pan in my refrigerator for the night.

Refrigerator

 

The next night I put the sauce back on the stove and heated it over low heat.  While I was reheating the sauce I boiled the pasta (I chose to use rigatoni).  Once the pasta was done I threw it into the pan along with the cubes of mozzarella cheese, and stirred everything together until the cheese was melty.  I cut the mozzarella into 1 cm cubes.

final product

 

I ended up having a total of 6 servings of the pasta.  Chris and I ate that night, and then I filled 4 tupperware containers with the leftovers for lunch for the next week.  I ended up freezing one of the containers, and eating it today for lunch (the following Monday), and discovered that this pasta freezes and reheats very well!

Topped off with broccoli I ate this pasta at my desk this afternoon.

leftovers



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