Evelyn's Favorite Pasta...tried at home

EVELYN'S FAVORITE PASTA Penne Tossed with Broccoli, Oven-Dried Tomato, Roasted Eggplant, Peppers, Artichoke, Kalamata Olives, Basil, Garlic, Pine Nuts and Parmesan Cheese

We went to Cheesecake Factory for the first time, couple of weeks ago. We were actually giving farewell to a friend of ours who was leaving to India for good. We decided to go to Thai first but one of our friends mentioned that they use Fish oil in cooking. And being complete vegetarians, this was alarming. I called up all the Thai restaurants I ate in and around RTP and everyone said the same thing “yes, we use fish oil, but if you don’t want it, please let us know”. It was our fault that we should have asked but who knew they would use that…so, we cancelled our plan to Thai and went to Cheesecake Factory instead. We thought there will be less number of vegetarian dishes or none and went with the idea of eating a salad.

We ordered Eggplant Burger, Cheese Quesadilla and this pasta. We loved them all and thought of going there again but it never worked out . So I made this at home by bringing all the necessary ingredients. The only difference was that they added roasted brinjal and I didn’t. But, still the taste was close. I omitted Artichoke, Kalamata Olives, Basil and Parmesan Cheese and instead of pine nuts, I added walnuts.

You need…

2 cups of veggies-broccoli, oven-dried tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, eggplant, all chopped
1 cup of penne pasta
4 or 5 tbsp olive oil
About 5 or 6 walnuts
2 or 3 garlic cloves.
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
Salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a pan, add cloves and fry them till light brown. Add a little pepper to it while cloves are frying.
2. Add all the veggies and stir fry them.
3. In the mean while, cook penne pasta till al-dente.
4. Drain pasta and add to the veggies and mix.
5. Add Italian seasoning, walnuts and salt and mix everything for 1-2 minutes and remove.
   

Serve hot.