Lemon and Veggie Pasta

There has been a lemon pasta recipe floating around on The Nest for the last couple weeks. It sounded really yummy so I knew I would have to check it out! The original was used as a side dish but I wanted mine as a main course with lots of vegetables. Here is the result! I'll mark my changes in purple.

The lemon flavour was really intense - it was great! This will definitely be repeated often around here :)

This makes a quick and easy dinner. The only "time-consuming" part is giving the eggplant an hour to "rest" while you salt it. Use that time to prep the rest of your veggies and herbs. After that hour, it will take 10-15 minutes max. :)

If you leave off the cheese, this recipe is vegan. I'm not convinced you need the cheese - the lemon and veggies work really well together!

Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 serving whole wheat spaghetti (or any other pasta you like)
Olive oil
A couple slices of eggplant, diced (probably about 1/2-1 cup)
1 tomato, seeded and diced (superfood!)
4 button mushrooms, sliced (I'd love to try this with a portobello cap!) - superfood!
1/4 cup broccoli florets (superfood!)
1/2 zucchini squash, sliced and then quartered
1/8 cup onion, finely chopped (superfood!)
1 clove garlic, minced (original called for garlic powder) - superfood!
3 tbsp. fresh basil or 2 tsp. dried basil
A little crushed red pepper
1/3 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice (superfood!)
1/2 tbsp. grated lemon zest
1 tsp. capers
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese (original called for Pecorino Romano)
1 tbsp. fresh parsley

Method:
1. Slice eggplant. Rinse off slices and pat dry. Sprinkle each with a little salt and let them "drain" on a paper towel for 1 hour. Re-rinse and pat dry. Dice.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, tomato, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, onion, garlic, and red pepper. Also add dried basil if you are using it. Saute the veggies for about 10 minutes or until tender.

3. While the vegetables saute, cook the pasta according to the package directions.

4. Drain the pasta and then mix the lemon juice and lemon zest in. Add capers, fresh parsley, and fresh basil to the veggies. Toss the veggies with the pasta. Serve and sprinkle with freshly-grated Parmesan and a little extra fresh parsley.
Enjoy immediately.


Reference:
I used the Lemon Pasta recipe from Erin's blog as the base for this. Thanks, Erin! :)