Winter weeknights: Healthy pasta recipe

It's pasta night at your place and you need some new and healthy ideas, quick. New recipes from The Sunlight Sets, simple set menus that are light and easy to digest.

It’s pasta night in your house. You’re scrambling to pull together a quick and healthy meal that will satisfy everyone, no mean feat on a dark Tuesday evening. But dinner must be made, and your weekend market haul comes to the rescue: two glossy eggplants that mesmerised with their inky hue, an armful of fragrant basil and an astonishingly expensive bulb of garlic. You dice the eggplant ready for a stint in the oven with just a drizzle of olive oil – not quite the Italian way, but your stomach will thank you later. A simple sauce bubbles away.

While you wait, tear open the figs gifted from your neighbour, their jammy insides even more delicious with a crumble of salty cheese. You delegate drinks, which results in a fizzy concoction of basil and berries, spicy and sweet. Plates empty, another day done.

• Pasta alla norma

• Baked figs with goat's cheese

• Blueberry basil fizz

Pasta alla norma

Serves 4 people, or 2 with leftovers for lunch

Ingredients: 1 large eggplant · 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil · 3 garlic cloves, chopped · 2 tbsp tomato paste · 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes · Large handful of basil leaves · 1 tsp brown sugar · 320g wholemeal spaghetti · 2 tsp Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Method: 

Pre-heat the oven to 220c. Cut the eggplant into 2cm cubes. Spread out on a tray and drizzle over 1 tablespoon of the oil. Mix through and bake for 15-20 minutes until the eggplant softens, turning the cubes over now and then. Put the kettle on for the spaghetti.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frypan and cook the garlic on low heat for about a minute, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Increase the heat to medium and add the tomato paste, canned tomatoes, half the basil leaves and a little sugar. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil then add the spaghetti. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick together, then drain – keeping aside half a cup of cooking water.

Mix the cooked eggplant cubes through the tomato sauce in the frypan, fold in the spaghetti and add a splash of the pasta water. Season with ground black pepper, and scatter over the remaining basil leaves and grated Romano.

Baked figs with goat's cheese

Ingredients: 4 ripe figs · 50g goat’s cheese · honey · ground black pepper

Method: After cooking the eggplant, turn down the oven to 200c. Slice the stems off the figs then cut a cross in the top of each, stopping a little way from the bottom. Gently press the figs open and add a teaspoon of goat’s cheese inside each, adding a drizzle of honey and a crack of black pepper. Warm for 5 minutes on a paper-lined baking tray.

Blueberry basil fizz

Ingredients: 1 cup blueberries (if frozen, defrost first) · 4 basil leaves · ½ cup lime juice · ice cubes · sparkling water

Method: In a glass jug or cocktail shaker, gently crush the blueberries and the basil leaves using the back of a spoon. Remove the basil leaves, then pour in the lime juice and mix. Add ice cubes to four glasses, then pour the liquid equally into each glass. Top up with sparkling water, and top with a small basil leaf.

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Make it work for you

Gluten-free spaghetti or buckwheat pasta spirals are low FODMAP options. Figs are high in FODMAPs, so skip this flavour bomb and slice up some seasonal fruit instead. Lay it out on your favourite plate for everyone to snack on.

The ritual

Put on a favourite comedy and laugh together. Whether it’s a five-minute skit that cracks you up or an hour-long comedy festival, enjoy the natural stress relief that comes with a giggle.

Author: Kym Lang. Photography: AI.