Stick-to-the-ribs food for a rainy day lunch

It never rains but  it pours and today has been a downpour-all-day type of day.  Some hot stick-to-the-ribs food for lunch seemed just what was needed and, on opening the fridge, the remainder of last nights dinner winked at me from it's glass bowl.

I love veggie food and last night concocted a dish that everyone thought was delicious and rather moreish.

I must confess that until I opened the fridge to prepare dinner, I hadn't a clue what I was going to make, all I knew was that hub was going to grill up some pork steaks for anyone who wanted meat (I gave up years ago to get my family to become vegetarians along with me).

After rummaging around in the fridge and store cupboard, I dug out a large aubergine, a small courgette, and a bag of fresh spinach, followed by a large tin of white beans, a small jar of capers and some de-stoned olives... a few fresh tomatoes and a packet of pasta would surely give a very satisfying meal.

With a pan of water on to boil for the pasta, I cut the aubergines into chunks, the courgettes into thick slices and threw them into hot olive oil in the biggest pan I own.  I let them brown a little then added diced onion and a couple of crushed garlic cloves.  Once the onion was transparent, I added some freshly ground pepper, peeled and diced tomatoes, oregano, the spinach, a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste and a splash of water.  Once they were nicely mixed and hot, in went the beans, olives and capers to thoroughly heat through.  Somewhere around the time I the onion was transparent, the water for the pasta was boiling so I added a packet of penne (having a large family means using a whole packet at least - some dishes we get through two!).

For lunch, all that was necessary was to re-heat it all, place the pasta in a bowl and top with the veggie mix - yum!