This recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Comfort is exactly what the cookbook title says—comfort food at its best. Roast eggplant pieces for a half hour and then add tomatoes, oregano, basil, garlic, a red chile, tomato paste, sugar, butter and fusilli or other short, dried pasta. Add boiling water, cover and cook for another half hour. Stir and cook, uncovered, for another 10 or 15 minutes. Let it rest for 10 minutes and then serve sprinkled with cheese and fresh herbs. Cook’s note: It took longer than 30 minutes for the pasta to cook; the next time I make this I will partially cook it in boiling water before adding it to the other ingredients.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Unico tomatoes and No Name tomato paste are additive-free. Check the oregano to make sure it does not contain colour or anti-caking agents. Use a butter that contains only milk or cream, with no colour added. Genuine parmesan contains no colour or additives; check for the name on the rind.

The pasta cooks with the sauce in this one-pot meal

Tomato and eggplant one-pot baked pasta

Ingredients:

¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil

2 eggplants, quartered lengthways, then each quarter cut in half widthways (1 lb 2 oz/500 g)

Salt and black pepper

12 ¼ oz (350 g) cherry tomatoes, half sliced, the rest left whole

14 oz (400 g) can diced tomatoes

1 tsp (5 ml) dried oregano

1 cup (20 g) basil leaves, roughly torn, plus a few extra leaves to serve

6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

1 red chile, cut in half lengthways, stem left intact

2 tbsp (30 ml) tomato paste

1 tsp (5 ml) icing sugar (or granulated sugar whirred in a food processor until it is powdery)

7 tbsp (100 g) unsalted butter, cut into ¾-inch/2-cm cubes

9 oz (250 g) dried fusilli, or other short, dried pasta

1 2/3 cups (400 ml) boiling water

1/3 oz (10 g) parsley, roughly chopped

1 ½ oz (40 g) parmesan, finely grated

Salt and black pepper

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 425 F (220 C). Put the oil in a large ovenproof sauté pan for which you have a lid, then lay in the eggplants, a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Toss to combine, then arrange the eggplants skin side down in the pan. Roast for 30 minutes, until nicely golden and starting to catch in places.

Add the remaining ingredients apart from the water, parsley and parmesan to the pan, then add 1 2/3 cup (400 ml) just-boiled water and stir in a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Don’t worry if all the pasta is not completely covered with liquid at this stage. Cover and bake for another 30 minutes, until the tomatoes have cooked down and the pasta is tender.

After the pasta has been in the oven for 30 minutes, give everything a good stir and cook uncovered for a final 10–15 minutes, until the sauce clings to the pasta and is starting to catch in places. Remove, leave to sit for 10 minutes, then serve with the parsley, parmesan and extra basil leaves sprinkled over the top. Serves 4.

From Comfort by Yotam Ottolenghi