Antonia’s Pasta Alle Melanzana (Eggplant Pasta)

By á-10847

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large Vidalia onion, chopped
• 3 large eggplants, chopped (5 cups)
• 3 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• Leaves from 10 to 12 sprigs of fresh basil
• Kosher salt
• 10 to 15 plum tomatoes
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of sugar
• 1 1/2 pounds dry fettucine
• 1/2 pound packaged mozzarella, cut into 1/2-cubes
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-cubes
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Details

Adapted from wallstcheatsheet.com

Preparation

Step 1

Heat ½ cup of oil and the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and eggplant and cook gently over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until tender. Towards the end of cooking time, add the whole garlic cloves and half of the basil leaves.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the tomatoes for 4 to 5 minutes until the skin splits and the tomatoes are softened. Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place them in a mesh colander set over a large bowl. Reserve the cooking liquid.

When they are cool enough to handle, core the tomatoes and peel off the skin. Using clean hands, squish the tomatoes, pushing the pulp through the sieve into the bowl underneath. Add the tomato liquid to the eggplant and then continue to push the tomato pulp through the sieve, until you have only seeds and hard pulp pieces left. Finally, add the rest of the pulpy liquid to the eggplants and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the sugar and continue to cook for 10 more minutes, until thickened.

In the meantime, bring the reserved cooking liquid back to a boil, add additional salt, and cook the fettucine according to directions on the package. Drain well.

To serve, spoon a third of the eggplant into a bowl and set aside. Toss the pasta in the sauté pan with the remaining eggplant and add the packaged mozzarella. Place the mixture in a large serving bowl and top with the reserved eggplant, the fresh mozzarella and the Parmesan. Garnish with the remaining basil leaves and serve hot.