The base for this recipe is the same as the stuffed bell peppers so sometimes I make both in one go to make meal prep easy but varied. Especially if you’re alone and don’t fancy eating the same thing for 3 days in a row this is a real hack.

You can create 2 very different recipes with the same mince. To do so simply use half of the mince to stuff the peppers and put in the oven while you finish off the pasta. You need about 125 g mince for one portion for the pasta and a bit less, about 100 g, to stuff one pepper so adjust the quantities accordingly.

What you need for 3 portions:

• 400 g mince beef

• 2 cans of peeled or chopped up tomato

• 1 red onion

• 2-3 cloves of garlic

• 3-4 aubergines

• 250 g pasta penne

• fresh basil

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• teaspoon cumin, thyme and ground coriander

• salt & pepper

Prep:

• Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees C. and chop up the aubergines in 3 cm chuncks. Don’t cut them too small to avoid they turn to mush. Put in an oven tray and drizzle with some olive oil. Cook for about 30 mins

• In the meanwhile, make the mince. Chop up the onion and garlic, heat some olive oil in a pan and then add the onion and garlic. When they start to glaze, add the mince.

• Then add the cumin, thyme, ground coriander, salt and pepper and make sure the mince cooks thoroughly.

• Start to boil some water for the pasta and add the pasta.

• Then add the 2 cans of chopped tomatoes and mash them up until you have a smooth sauce.

• Let the sauce simmer on medium/low heat until the pasta and aubergines are cooked.

• Then add the aubergines to the sauce, drain the pasta and serve your plates. Garnish with some fresh mozzarella.

Serve with a green salad, some grated parmesan cheese or mozzarella and enjoy!