Pasta with Eggplant and Tomato Caponata

I don't believe people when they say they just threw a recipe together. Mainly because in my experience, when I just throw stuff together from my refrigerator the end result is often mediocre, strange, or downright horrific. The last two paired up on a homemade pad thai I attempted to make a few weeks back using the odds and ends in my pantry. It was oh-so-very-awful. I finished it because I would rather have bamboo shoots under my nails than waste food, but it took some effort.

With this said, I really did just throw together this recipe.

I know, you're thinking I'm a hypocrite. I'm not going to correct you. I'm the person who judges people wearing leggings for pants and then does the same thing the next day. But this recipe really is phenomenal. And it doesn't involve leggings.

It came from my very un-Italian aversion to tomatoes. I bought a pint of cherry tomatoes for a different recipe and only ended up using about 1/2 a cup. As mentioned before, I hate wasting food (bamboo shoots, remember?) so I did everything I could think of to use up these tomatoes.

Tossed in salads.

(Ew.)

Roasted with olive oil.

(Still ew.)

Pureed with roasted eggplant.

(Hold on. Not half bad.)

I don't think you can really call this a caponata; but it has already been established that I am a bad Italian so I am going to use the word anyway. If you like tomatoes, use less eggplant. If you're like me and despise the round fiends, liberally add the eggplant.

Pasta with Eggplant and Tomato Caponata

Ingredients:

1 cup roasted tomatoes

1 1/2 cups roasted eggplant

salt/pepper

3/4 cup pasta

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Spread the tomatoes and eggplant onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for roughly 2o minutes, until the eggplant is tender and the tomatoes have softened. Set aside.

Boil the pasta according to instructions.

In the bowl of a food processor, puree the tomatoes and eggplant until a chunky sauce forms. Don't over combine, you want to have those chunks. Pour over the pasta and mix.

** If you are making this straight from the fridge (like me!) follow the pureeing instructions and then pour onto a heated skillet. Let the caponata heat and then add the pasta. Cover the skillet and let heat for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!