Grains of Paradise Miso Pasta

Warm your oven up to 400 degrees and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggplant, onion, grains of paradise, and salt until everything is all tossed together. Spread this between the two baking sheets and roast them up for 20-30 minutes, stirring them half way through. You'll know they're done when the eggplants and onions start to brown in some places.

While that shit is roasting, cook and drain the pasta. Now keep that multitasking mindset up and let's make the sauce. In a glass mix together the rice vinegar, lemon juice, miso, olive oil, and maple syrup until there are no more miso chunks floating around in there. Done.

When the veggies are done roasting, pour the drained pasta back in the pot you cooked it in or another large bowl, stir in the veggies, and drizzle over the sauce. You can add a 3-4 cups of arugula to the pot now and stir it in or just serve the pasta on a bed of arugula, whatever you want. However you do that shit, sprinkle some more grains of paradise on top before serving.

This is good warm, at room temp, and cold. This dish meets you wherever you're at. 

* Grains of Paradise is a spice that tastes like black pepper, cardamon, and citrus all rolled into one. It's hard to find outside of speciality markets or grocers that focus on West African foods but you know you can get that shit online. It's worth the effort. But if that ain't happening, sub with 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon coriander, and 1 teaspoon lemon of lime zest. You can learn more about the spice listening to our food history segment on "The American Aisle" ep 168 of Forked Up HERE.