Eggplant & Tomato Rustic Pasta Bake - Pasta

Method

• First!
• Peel eggplant with a butcher knife; don't be afraid to try new veggies, they LOVE you!
• I don't worry about peeling it perfectly.
• I like to leave a bit of the skin on, it looks pretty.
• ~ Slice the eggplant into about 1 1/2 inch slices.
• Then, cut slices into quarters.
• Place cut eggplant into large colander a bit at a time sprinkling generously with salt after each layer.
• This extracts the slight bitter taste.
• I fill a bowl or large zip lock bag with water and place it on top of the eggplant to help extract the juices.
• Leave alone for 30-40 minutes.
• ~ Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400̊ .
• Cut your cherry tomatoes in half.
• Cut your onion and RBP into pieces as big as the tomatoes.
• ~ Place all veggies except eggplant into a large bowl and drizzle with 1 tsp of EVOO, mix to coat (I've found you need to use less oil when you do it this way).
• Put on baking sheet and into oven for 15 minutes.
• Remove, set aside.
• ~ Rinse eggplant under cold running water very well to remove salt.
• Put them on a kitchen towel, pat to dry.
• Put eggplant into the same bowl you used for the onion & RBP and drizzle them with a TBSP EVOO, toss to coat.
• Eggplant soaks up oil so don't use too much!
• It doesn't need to look evenly coated.
• ~ Spread evenly on baking sheet and cook at 400̊ for 15 minutes.
• Don't crowd your veggies or they will steam and be soggy.
• You want to roast them not steam them.
• ~ While eggplant is roasting, boil pasta al dente.
• ~ Put all veggies along with cooked pasta into a casserole dish.
• ~ Roughly chop and then sprinkle all the herbs onto pasta mix.
• ~ Gently toss ingredients around to combine and to coat the dish with oil.
• Drop Ricotta Cheese by spoonfuls onto pasta mix.
• Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.