A Spicy Pasta Recipe with Eggplant, Capers, and Mint

Name: Spicy Pasta with Eggplant, Capers, and Mint
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 17 min
Ingredients: 3 Tbsp capers packed in salt; 1 garlic clove; 1 Japanese eggplant (see headnote); 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons tomato concentrate (or paste); 1/2 cup loosely packed mint leaves; salt as needed; Red chili flakes; 1 pound short pasta (like ziti or cavatelli)

Chef and Author Viola Buitoni shares a piquant pasta recipe from her cookbook, Italy by Ingredient.

By Viola Buitoni

10:00 AM EDT on September 18, 2023

Spicy Pasta with Eggplant, Capers, and Mint.

Eggplant, capers, and mint are a felicitous yet ubiquitous flavor combination whose parentage is impossible to attribute. I can't consciously call this recipe mine, but I can call it accessible and joyful. I like to use Japanese eggplants because they're virtually seedless and can be cut in just-the-right-size wheels, but feel free to use other kinds and slice them into manageable-size bites.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We have added the video below of Chef Buitoni's making this dish in the kitchen of Appetito's Editor-in-Chief Andrew Cotto. The complete production was provided by ProdCo+.

Spicy Pasta with Eggplant, Capers, and Mint

Recipe by Viola Buitoni

5.0 from 2 votes

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Ingredients

3 Tbsp 3 capers packed in salt
1 1 garlic clove
1 1 Japanese eggplant (see headnote)
4 tablespoons 4 extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons 2 tomato concentrate (or paste)
1/2 cup 1/2 loosely packed mint leaves
salt as needed
Red chili flakes
1 pound 1 short pasta (like ziti or cavatelli)

Directions

Fill a pot with 3 quarts of water and cover it.
Set it over high heat to come to a boil.
Put the capers into a tea strainer and run under hot water to melt away all the visible salt.
Rinse well and leave to soak in warm water while you are readying the rest of the ingredients.
Peel the garlic clove and leave it whole.
Slice the eggplant as thinly as possible into rounds.
Pour 3 tablespoons of the oil into a frying pan large enough to contain the eggplant slices in a single layer and place it over medium heat.
Place a plate next to the stove and line it with a paper towel.
When the fragrance of oil hits your nostrils decisively, add the eggplant and pan fry until the slices become pliant and glossy.
Lift a slice from the oil with tongs and if it has some brown, caramelized spots, turn it over and panfry the other side.
Transfer the eggplant slices to the paper-towel-lined plate.
Drain the capers and toss them into the oil used to cook the eggplant.
Add the garlic clove, tomato concentrate and 6 or 7 mint leaves of mint then douse with 2 cups of hot water.
Season with chili to best suit your glee for heat.
Stir well to dilute the concentrate, turn the heat on to medium, and let simmer to reduce by about one-third.
Season the boiling water with 1 tablespoon salt, stir in the pasta, and cover the pot. Set a timer for 2 minutes shy of the suggested cooking time.
When the water starts to boil again, remove the lid and adjust the heat so that the water is at a lively but not rolling boil.
The sauce will be ready in the time it takes the pasta to cook. It should be loosely velvety in appearance, runny but not watery.
Sample the sauce and adjust the salt to your liking.
Return the eggplant to the pan.
When the timer goes off, fish the ziti out of the water with a handheld strainer and add them to the sauce, with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.
Raise the heat to the highest setting and toss and twirl the pasta for an additional minute or two to finish cooking.