Ingredients:
1 medium or 200g eggplant, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp or 20g olive oil
1 medium or 150g red bell pepper, cut into 2cm pieces
200g halumi cheese, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 medium or 100g onion, sliced
4 cloves or 20g fresh garlic, chopped
2 tbsp or 30g black olive paste
2 tbsp or 30g tomato paste
2 cups or 500ml water
2 cubes chicken stock
1 can or 400g crushed tomatoes
1 tsp or 3g dried oregano
1/2 cup or 15g fresh basil leaves
400g penne pasta, tri-colour
2L boiling water, for cooking pasta
1/2 cup or 50g mozzarella cheese
1 tsp or 2g black pepper, freshly cracked
Direction:
1. Preheat oven to 175 C and place oven rack to middle position.
2. Place eggplant in a sieve and sprinkle with salt to extract the bitter juices.
3. Meanwhile, saute peppers in 1 tbsp of olive oil and set aside. Using the same pan, repeat the process for halumi cheese and eggplant. Once cooked, remove from the pan and set aside to cool.
4. Add onions and the last 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pan and saute until onions are just tender. Add garlic, olive paste and tomato paste and saute for an additional 2 minutes.
5. Add water, chicken stock, crushed tomatoes and oregano. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes on medium heat.
6. Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain pasta, discard water and transfer into a large baking dish or casserole dish.
7. Gently mix in fresh basil leaves, pre-cooked peppers, halumi cheese and eggplants with the pasta. Pour tomato sauce over pasta and mix gently.
8. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and black pepper on top and bake in the oven until cheese is melted and slightly golden, about 25 minutes.
Cooking Tip: For a milder cheese flavour, replace Halumi cheese with fresh mozzarella cheese, broken into large pieces.
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