Recipe - Pasta With Roasted Eggplant Ricotta And Basil

Three fourths pound Eggplant; cut into 1inch
; pieces (about 4
; cups)
2 tablespoon Olive oil
1 md Onion; chopped fine (about
; 1 cup)
2 Garlic cloves; minced
1 md Red bell pepper; cut or sliced up thin
(about
; 1 cup)
One half pound Vineripened plum tomatoes;
seeded and chopped
; (about 4)
2 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar; or to
taste
One half pound Rotelle or ziti
One fourth cup Ricotta cheese
One fourth cup Chopped fresh basil leaves
Freshly grated Parmesan
cheese to taste

Preheat oven to 450F.

In a jellyroll pan toss eggplant with 1 tablespoon oil and salt and pepper
to taste and roast in oven, shaking pan occasionally, until golden and
tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

While eggplant is roasting, in a heavy skillet cook onion, garlic, and bell
pepper with salt and pepper to taste in remaining tablespoon oil over
moderate heat, stirring, until softened.

Add tomatoes and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes and
pepper are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir in vinegar and roasted eggplant.

In a kettle of boiling salted water cook pasta until al dente and drain
well, reserving about Three fourths cup cooking water. In a bowl toss pasta well with
sauce, ricotta, basil, Parmesan, salt and pepper to taste, and enough
reserved cooking water to reach desired consistency.

Serves 2.

Gourmet October 1994

Converted by MC_Buster.

Converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.