I thought you may enjoy a quick little Mediterranean diet snack recipe that I enjoy and can be slapped together any time quickly as long as you have the ingredients handy. Keeps well in the fridge for days. Let me know if you like it and from time to time I'll send you more recipes.

With Fetta Cheese, Eggplant and Cashew Nuts In Pasta Salad

This Mediteranean recipe is used commonly not only in the Mediterranean diet regions but across the western world as well. It was once prepared for me, and I have been using it ever since. You can even eat it with the eggplant still warm and it still tastes great.

Here we go,

2 eggplant (diced)
250g penne pasta (any paste will do!)
3/4 small cup of olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup of freshly chopped mint leaves
black pepper
250g fetta cheese, grated coarsely or packet
100g unsalted cashews
olives, pitted if you prefer

Makes 6-8 servings
Change to: servings US Metric
30 minutes 30 mins prep

1. Soak chopped eggplant in cold salted water (around 2 tbsp salt to ½ litre of water) for about ½ hour.
2. Drain, rinse and dry off on a clean tea towel.
3. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and fry the cubes until golden, remove and drain on paper kitchen towels. Place in large bowl.
4. Cook pasta as per instructions, drain, rinse and then add to the eggplant.
5. Mix (you can shake in an empty jar) olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, garlic, mint, and black pepper to taste
6. Pour over the pasta mixture and mix carefully and thoroughly.
7. Grate the cheese over the top and sprinkle your cashew nuts on top (the nuts are important to the success of this dish).
8. Enjoy

Roy

**You can get more information on cooking, recipes, history and diet comparisons below.**