Eggplant and Fish Penne Salad
This is a very colorful salad that is as figure-friendly as it is delicious. Add more fish if you want to feed a large group of fish-lovers… add more eggplant if you want to satisfy your veggie-lovers. This recipe is quite adaptable to almost any ingredient you might want to experiment with. Be sure that the fish is very firm as it will disappear if it breaks up too much. Otherwise, the sky’s the limit!
1 pound penne pasta
1/3 cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes (more or less to taste)
4 eggplants, ends trimmed, thinly sliced lengthwise, then cut into squares
1 pound solid, firm fish (sword fish, tuna, cobia, amber jack), cubed
1/3 cup white wine
2 cups halved grape tomatoes
2 cups chopped cucumber
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place pasta in salted boiling water and cook until pasta is tender, but still a little bit firm and then drain. While cooking the pasta, get out a large heavy skillet and set over medium-high heat, adding the 1/3 cup olive oil, garlic, 1/4 cup parsley, and red chili flakes. Cook for 2 minutes stirring often. Then place the eggplant in the skillet and cook an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Place the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the skillet. Now place the fish seasoned with salt and pepper in the same skillet and cook about 5 to 7 minutes or until fish is no longer translucent. Add the white wine and cook until almost evaporated. Remove from heat. Add the eggplant mixture to fish in skillet and stir together. In large serving bowl, put pasta, eggplant, fish, grape tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, salt and black pepper, and toss everything together.