Sunday, May 9, 2010

Eggplant and Cucumber Noodles

Leftovers ... what do I do with half an eggplant, 1 cucumber, and onions? I can't just throw these almost expired vegetables in the trash because that would just be wasteful. Well, being an efficient engineer, I conjured up a noodle dish that tasted quite interesting. I'm thankful that noodles are so versatile and goes well with anything. Basically, if you have the right herbs and spices, a wine, you can literally make several variations of noodles.

Eggplant and Cucumber Noodles


Ingredients
1/2 eggplant
1 Cucumber
1/2 Onion
1/4 cup White wine
4 oz Spaghetti noodles
2 cloves garlic
1 tbs Butter
2 tsp Paprika
2 tsp Dried oregano
1 tsp Chili powder
Salt and pepper
Dash of white truffle oil (optional)
Romano cheese

Preparation of being wasteful
1. Boil water
2. Finely dice the onion
3. Coarsely chop the eggplant and cucumber
4. Salt the eggplant and let it sit for 30-45 minutes
5. Rinse the eggplant
6. Chop the garlic

Cooking portion
1. Throw in noodles into the water
2. Heat up a pan with with
3. Add onion and garlic on medium heat
4. Wait for caramelization of onions (1-2 minutes)
5. Add eggplant and cucubmer and cook for 5-6 minutes
6. Add in paprika, chili powder, and oregano and stir around
7. Add in the white wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate (1-2 minutes)
8. Throw in the butter and mix well
9. Top with Romano cheese
10. Transfer noodles into a bowl and put in vegetable mix
11. Add a dash of truffle oil

Now that was simple! You can do some variations of this with your leftovers. It'll be good! Another thing, truffle oil really enhances the flavor of things, but don't add too much of it.

No comments:

Post a Comment