Antonias Pasta Alle Melenzana Eggplant Pasta - olive oil

Method

• Heat 1/2 cup of oil and the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat.
• Add the onion and eggplant and cook gently over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until tender.
• It may be necessary to add more oil as the eggplant soaks the oil up quickly.
• 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.
• At first you will have a watery liquid.
• 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 saute 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.
• A viewer, who may not be a professional cook, provided this recipe.
• The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe and therefore, we cannot make representation as to the results.