Thursday, January 7, 2010

Everything's Beta with Feta !

Pasta and cheese are a must-do combination. In my opinion, every pasta dish MUST contain some type of cheese. It doesn't matter if it is a thick layerying of melty goodness on top of the dish, a sparse sprinkling or sophisticated shaving - as long as the cheese is present in some fashion. Feta isn't a typical cheese choice for pasta, but it is not any less delicious than your expected "pasta cheeses". It is really made for this dish and its briney perfection is the perfect match to the hot sausage and succulent eggplant!

Whole Wheat Penne with Sausage, Eggplant and Feta
Adapted from Cooking Light April 2005

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)

Ingredients
  • 4 1/2 cups cubed eggplant (about 1 pound)
  • 1/2 pound bulk hot pork breakfast sausage
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 6 cups hot cooked whole wheat penne (about 10 ounces uncooked tube-shaped pasta)
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) cubed feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup dried parsley flakes
Preparation

Cook eggplant, sausage, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 12 minutes or until sausage is browned and eggplant is tender.

Add tomato paste,

oregeno,

tomatoes and black pepper; cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add cooked pasta and cheese

and parsley to the tomato sausage mixture; toss well.

5 comments:

mission dining table said...

Nice photos and nice dish! Thanks for sharing! This is something new for my family. They are going to be surprised.

teresa said...

i'm with you on the cheese, and the more the better. great dish!

Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction said...

Looks great! I love feta because you can use just a small amount and still get a great punch of flavor.

Kerstin said...

I completely agree :) And I love feta with eggplant - what a delicious pasta!

Unplanned Cooking said...

I'm with you, especially when I'm using whole wheat, which I usually am these days.