Italian Puttanesca salad

Ingredients

1 cup rissonipasta, you may need two cups of any other short pasta
2 tblsp of virgin olive oil
1 medium eggplant, trimmed and diced into 2 cm chunks
3 tblsp virgin olive oil extra
1 red capsicum, seeded and thinly sliced
1 white onion, thinly sliced
3 large cloves of garlic, sliced
3 anchovies
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes(you can use 2 fresh diced tomates if you like instead)
1 tblsp capers chopped
10 large green olives, deseeded, sliced
1/3 cup basil pesto (see recipe below)
Rocket
Shaved parmesan or pecorino cheese (an Italian sheep's milk cheese)
Cracked black pepper
salt

Method

Cook the pasta as per directed on the packet, this time only, rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process and drizzle with a little olive oil, set the pasta aside in the fridge
Pre heat the oven to 200°C
Toss the eggplant with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the eggplant onto a baking try lined with paper and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown and softened. Allow to cool slightly
Heat the oil in a large frypan and fry off the capsicum until softened, remove the cooked capsicum into another bowl, add in another splash of oil if needed and saute off the onion, garlic, anchovies until the anchovies have dissolved and the onions have softened
Add in the sundried tomatoes, capers, olives toss together in the pan for 2 minutes. Add this to the capsicum
Now for the fun part, toss all the ingredients together including the eggplant, the pesto and make sure that all the little pasta are covered with this delicious party of flavour. Season with salt and pepper
Throw in a couple of good handfuls of rocket or baby spinach and serve with shaved parmesan or pecorino cheese

Tips & Hints

For the pesto

Ingredients

Method

In a food processor blend the basil with the garlic and slowly drizzle in the oil, add in the cheese and the pine nuts and blend to a smooth consistency like runny porridge
Season with salt and freeze or store it in the fridge in a container covered with a thin film of olive oil

Tips & Hints

Makes 3 cups, Ok so you may not use 3 cups of pesto in one go, but it freezes well and you can certainly use it in a number of different dishes, as a dip, whisked into scrambled eggs, with hot pasta.. I am sure you will find a number of uses or simply halve the recipe. I am Italian so I make bulk of everything.