Wednesday, May 30, 2007

BBQ Spaghetti Diablo



BBQ Spaghetti Diablo

Prep time: 20 minutes (mostly for boiling water for pasta and preheating the bbq)
Grill time: 10 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:
8oz/226g spaghetti (we used whole wheat, because we’re on the South Beach Diet)
2 small or one large eggplant, peel on but thinly sliced length-wise
4 spears asparagus
6 Italian sausage links (we used Italian turkey sausages)
Extra virgin olive oil (start with 4 tbsp and add more if you need. The eggplant soaks it up)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
Red chili pepper flakes – as much as you dare. I used about 2 tsp
3 tbsp fresh Italian/flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente (8-10 minutes depending on the type of pasta). Drain and set aside.

2. In the meantime, preheat the bbq or broiler.

3. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on the eggplant slices and asparagus.

4. Grill the sausages for 5 minutes, turn and add the vegetables to the grill. Continue to cook, flipping the vegetables occasionally until the eggplant is soft and the asparagus are charred a bit, but still kind of crunchy. Limp, grey asparagus is not an option! This should take about 5 minutes, depending on your bbq.

5. Once the vegetables and sausages are grilled, slice the sausages and asparagus into 1” pieces and julienne the eggplant slices. In a large skillet, sauté the garlic and red chili peppers in some olive oil for 2-3 minutes over medium heat. You want the aroma of the garlic, but don’t let it burn.

6. Add the drained pasta, toss and add more chili peppers or olive oil, if you like.

Serve with a simple green salad.

Related links:

3 comments:

Nora B. said...

I LOVE spicy stuff, so this will be a good one for me to try. Thanks!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

What is a diablo then? First of all I thought it was the devil, until I purchased a kitchen gadget shaped like a hand held griddle with horns! Actually a stove-top toasted sandwich maker. It is fab for pizza or apple tart, haven't tried anything else yet, but it is great! It brands the food, diablo! I got it from Lakeland.
Tell me the story of your diablo!

Ruth Daniels said...

Nora, thanks for dropping by.

Holler, the "diablo" really just refers to the heat of the dish - picture the Devil in a fiery brimstone. Many Italian dishes have the word "Diablo" in the title and it just refers to something spicy. Of course HOW spicy depends on the cook!