Pasta with Eggplant and Ricotta, Sicilian-Style

(adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

I've raved about Marcella before, but man. She just never fails. I could randomly point to a recipe in her book, and it would be amazing. If I could have only one cookbook for the rest of my life, it'd be this one.

I obviously have a pasta bias, and this recipe was great, because it was a little different from the usual pastas I make. More steps than the usual pasta, too - but worth it.

Usually I follow Marcella's recipes to the letter, but I accidentally bought too little eggplant (one instead of two - although one ended up fine), and didn't have any romano cheese (substitute parmesan). I did, however, actually peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds, steps I usually would have skipped. Worth it!

1-2 Italian eggplants (preparation required)
Salt
Vegetable oil
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 onion, sliced very thin
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
5 Italian plum tomatoes, skinned with a peeler, split lengthwise to pick out the seeds, and cut into narrow strips
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp grated romano cheese (alt: parmesan)
3 tbsp skim ricotta (mmm, I am newly a big fan of ricotta)
8-10 fresh basil leaves
3/4 lb pasta
Grated parmesan for serving

Start by prepping the eggplant. Cut off the spiky cap. Peel the eggplant and cut into 1.5-inch cubes. Place the cubes in a colander and set over a paper towel, then sprinkle cubes liberally with salt. Let the eggplant sit for at least a 1/2 hour and up to 1 hour. This draws out the bitterness of the eggplant.

Rinse the eggplant cubes in cold water, then dry them in a paper towel in batches - you can put them in the paper towel and squeeze them gently, almost like you're wringing them out. Set aside once you've rinsed all of them.

Put enough vegetable oil in a large frying pan to come up about 1/2 an inch on the sides of the pan. Turn the heat to medium-high. Once the oil is very hot, slip in the eggplant pieces and fry them until the pieces feel tender when prodded with a fork. Transfer with a slotted spatula to a plate lined with a paper towel.

Pour the oil out of the frying pan and wipe clean with paper towels. Add the olive oil and sliced onion, and turn the heat to medium-high. Saute the onion until it turns light gold in color and begins to caramelize, then add the chopped garlic and cook for just a few seconds, stirring.

Add the tomato, turn the heat to high, and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring, until the oil floats free from the tomato (this will make sense when you see it).

Add the eggplant and a few grindings of pepper, stir, and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for just a minute or so more, stirring a couple times. Taste and add salt if needed.

Toss the cooked and drained pasta with the sauce, add the romano/parmesan, the ricotta, and the basil leaves. Toss again to coat the pasta, and serve with grated parmesan.

Pasta with Eggplant

Back from Japan! The food was amazing. A post on that to follow, and hopefully recipes in the future. But for now, it's back to - what else? - Italian!

There's a recipe that's been tempting me from "Italian Country Cooking" - it's for a type of pasta casserole with eggplant, smoked mozzarella, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce, basil. It sounds delicious. Unfortunately, it's a slightly more involved recipe, which means it frequently falls off my list. This time, I actually bought an eggplant and was all set to go - and then I ran out of time. Desperate to use the eggplant before leaving for Japan, I came up with the recipe below, which is kind of a quick version - I would imagine - of the casserole.

I also considered not adding the tomato sauce - something I'll have to try in the future. In that case, I would have sauteed the eggplant in the garlic, etc., as described, then tossed in the pasta and sprinkled it all with toasted breadcrumbs, probably skipping the mozzarella but adding plenty of parmesan.

In any a case, it was a hit. Even Joef, who was professedly not a fan of eggplant, loved it and called for a repeat performance. I forgot how flavorful eggplant is - it really infuses the whole sauce, and is very hearty.

3/4 lb short pasta

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Olive oil

1 medium eggplant, partially skinned, chopped, and salted (see instructions below)

Fresh or dried basil

8 oz tomato sauce or less

Grated mozzarella, for serving

The first step is (thanks, Internet!) to prep the eggplant. Start by cutting off the tip, then partially skinning it - so use a potato peeler to peel off a strip, leave a strip, peel off a strip, etc. - until it's striped. Next, chop the eggplant into roughly bite-sized chunks. Place the eggplant in a collander over paper towels, and salt lightly, tossing the eggplant so the salt gets integrated. Leave it for 30 minutes or so. Drain, rinse, and pat dry. This has something to do with the natural absorption of the eggplant - improving it, or limiting it, or something or other. In any case, it worked.

Cook your pasta.

In the meantime, drizzle olive oil liberally into your pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the garlic. After a minute or two, add the eggplant and some basil, and stir to coat in the olive oil. Turn the heat to medium and saute until the eggplant begins to soften and lightly brown. Then, add your tomato sauce (you may not need the full can, depending on how tomato-y and saucey you want it) and stir. Bring to a boil again, then reduce heat to low to simmer. Give it at least 10-15 minutes.

When ready, pour sauce over pasta and top with grated mozzarella right away so it gets melty.