Durum Pasta in Eggplant and Tomato Sauce – Gluten-free version

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Tomato sauce

1. 1
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveFrying pan
2. 2
   Add the onion and fry 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
4. 4
   Add and stir about a minute, until fragrant.

   ⚙ SimmeringStove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.

For the Cooked pasta

1. 5
   Cook the gluten-free pasta in plenty of boiling salted water (4¼ cups of water and a heaping teaspoon of salt for every 4 oz of gluten-free pasta), following the package directions (taste about 2 minutes early), until al dente.

   ⚙ Cooking in salted waterStovePot

   💡The water should taste like a seasoned soup, not like sea water: a heaping teaspoon of salt per liter. Add the salt once the water is boiling.
2. 6
   Reserve cup of the cooking water before draining.

   ⚙ Saving the cooking waterLadleorMeasuring cup

   💡The cooking water is starchy: a spoonful or two binds the sauce to the gluten-free pasta or the gnocchi and makes it glossy.
3. 7
   Drain.

   Colander

To assemble

1. 8
   Fry the eggplant cubes in a little olive oil for 8 minutes, until golden, and add them to the sauce.

   StoveFrying pan
2. 9
   Add the drained gluten-free pasta to the sauce, with a little of the cooking water if it is thick, and toss well.

   💡Toss the gluten-free pasta in the sauce over the heat for one minute: it soaks up the sauce instead of just being coated in it.
3. 10
   Serve immediately with the Parmesan and basil.